Abstract—Although properly made concrete is inherently a durable material, there are many physical and chemical forces in the environment which can contribute to its deterioration. This paper deals with two aspects of concrete durability in chemical aggressive environment: degradation effect of particular aggressive exposure and role of particular mineral additives. Results of the study of leaching and acid corrosion processes in samples prepared with specific dosage of microsilica and zeolite are given in the paper. Corrosion progress after 60-day exposition is manifested by increasing rate of both Ca and Si release, what is identified by XRF method. Kind and dosage of additions used in experiment was found to be helpful for stabilization of concrete microstructure. The lowest concentration of mean elements in leachates was observed for mixture V1 (microsilica only) unlike the V2 (microsilica + zeolite). It is surprising in the terms of recommendations of zeolite application for acid exposure. Using microsilica only seems to be more effective. Keywords—Sustainability, durability, concrete, acid corrosion, leaching. I. INTRODUCTION environment, economy, and society. To meet its goal, sustainable development must provide that these three components remain healthy and balanced [1]. According to the concept of sustainable development, the environmental load of a building must be evaluated throughout its life cycle, i.e. from design to construction, maintenance or repair, demolition and rubble disposal. Therefore, sustainable construction means designing structures with appropriate durability during a specified service life [2]. Durability of concrete is defined as the ability of concrete to withstand damaging effects of environment without deterioration for a certain period of time. So, durability of concrete should be considered in two aspects. The first aspect is damaging factors; the second is the resistibility to damaging effects. The durability of concrete is determined by the confrontation between these two aspects [3], [4]. External damaging factors are generally considered as mechanical, physical or chemical. Resistibility is solved mainly by proper composition of concrete mix, as well as proper technique on working site. Codes and specifications followed in different countries play an important role in ensuring the durability of concrete structures. The definitions of exposure conditions and then exposure classes in most of the international standards have A. Sicakova and A. Estokova are with the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Technical University of Kosice, Slovakia, (e-mail: alena.sicakova@tuke.sk, adriana.estokova@tuke.sk). been expanded and are aligned with the anticipated severity of exposure during the service life of structures. The vast majority of international codes on structural concrete are basically “prescriptive” in nature, in that they specify the limiting values of the following four parameters for code- defined exposure conditions [5]: • Minimum cement content • Maximum free water-binder ratio • Minimum grade of concrete • Cover to reinforcement. Other recommendations for concrete composition are usually given as well, e.g. for concretes to be exposed to chemical attack, mineral additives are recommended. A lot of mineral additives come as wastes/secondary raw materials and they play a significant role in production of sustainable concrete by three main ways: • They can save energy consumption and CO 2 production by substitution of cement • They can help the concrete durability due to better quality (strength, impermeability, resistance to various impacts …), and • They can help to reduce the environmental burden by their incorporation in concrete. Demonstration of concrete durability in specific environment then acts only through the demonstration of standard parameters, given by national standards. These are represented by limiting values of following: compressive strength class, frost and freeze-thaw resistance with NaCl solution, depth of penetration of water under pressure and so on. On the basis of own practical experiences, those parameters are not of informative value for users/contractors in praxis; they cause an uncertainty as regards a chemical resistance of concrete, moreover when the standard does not give dosage of additives for specific exposure classes. Therefore this paper deals with two aspects of concrete durability in chemical aggressive environment: degradation effect of particular aggressive exposure and role of particular mineral additives. Results of the study of leaching and acid corrosion processes in samples prepared with specific dosage of two kinds of additives are given in the paper. The recipes of mixtures were verified in advance in terms of the meeting the standard criteria for defined exposure class. Deterioration of concrete structures exposed to an aggressive solution is often characterized by the leaching of calcium and silicon compounds from cement matrix. Leaching as a diffusion-reaction phenomenon, which takes place when concrete is exposed to poorly mineralized or acid water, is one of the most significant parameters which affect the durability Some Aspects of Study the Leaching and Acid Corrosion of Concrete Alena Sicakova, Adriana Estokova T HERE are three components of sustainability; World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Environmental and Ecological Engineering Vol:8, No:5, 2014 560 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 8(5) 2014 scholar.waset.org/1307-6892/9998375 International Science Index, Environmental and Ecological Engineering Vol:8, No:5, 2014 waset.org/Publication/9998375