Corrosion Resistance of Steel in Cracked Reinforced Concrete after Electro-depositon Treatment

Abstract

An electro-deposition method has been recently proposed to repair cracked reinforced concrete. To evaluate the corrosion resistance of the reinforcing steel in cracked concrete, three different parameters including type of auxiliary electrode, electrode distance, and current density were studied. Tafel polarization curve was used to evaluate the corrosion resistance of the steel. Self-corrosion potential and corrosion current of the steel were tested. The results indicate that the corrosion resistance improvement of the reinforcing steel is optimal as prism titanium mesh is applied as auxiliary electrode, followed by the flaky titanium mesh and the column titanium bar. When the electrode distance is 60 mm, the corrosion resistance improvement of the reinforcing steel is optimal, and with 80 mm electrode distance, the corrosion resistance improvement is the poorest. The property falls in between them when 40 mm electrode distance is used. Moreover, the corrosion resistance improvement of the reinforcing steel increases as the current density goes up.