Effect of surface preparation on corrosion of steel rebars coated with cement-polymer-composites (CPC) and embedded in concrete

Abstract

Nowadays, Cement-Polymer-Composites are widely used to coat steel rebars to delay the initiation of corrosion in reinforced concrete (RC) structures. However, Cement-Polymer-Composite (CPC) coating is sometimes inadequately applied on rusted steel and can lead to premature under film/crevice corrosion. This paper investigates the effect of such inadequate applications of CPC coating and premature corrosion on the service life of RC structures. For this, maximum surface chloride concentrations, diffusion coefficients, and chloride thresholds were determined by a one-year-long laboratory study on the specimens obtained from a 6-year-old bridge and prepared in the laboratory. Studies found that the chloride threshold of inadequately coated steel rebar (i.e., coating on ‘as received’ surface) is significantly lower than that of the adequately coated steel rebars (i.e., coating on ‘sandblasted’ surface). Also, the corrosion initiation time for systems with inadequately coated steel rebar was about 50% less than that of the systems with adequately coated steel rebars. The corrosion mechanisms were justified with micrographs. It is recommended not to use CPC coated steel rebars if adequate surface preparation (say, cleaning/sandblasting) is not implemented.