Recent advances in the development and application of chemically reactive enamel coating for steel bars

Abstract

A new type of chemically reactive enamel (CRE) coating has recently been developed to improve the corrosion resistance of steel bars and the bond strength between the steel bars and concrete. The corrosion process of steel bars with damaged CRE coating is confined locally around the damage locations, which completely differs from the widespread corrosion process of fusion-bonded epoxy (FBE) coated steel bars. The increase in steel-concrete bond strength with CRE-coated bars can improve the system performance and integrity of reinforced concrete (RC) structures, which also differs from the reduced bond strength with FBE-coated bars. Overall, CRE coating can potentially improve the durability, serviceability, and safety of RC structures under environmental, operational, and extreme loading. Furthermore, CRE coating is simple in manufacture and comparable in cost to widely-used FBE coating. Therefore, CRE coating is a viable alternative to FBE coating for extensive applications in civil engineering. This paper introduces the characteristics of CRE coating, reviews its state-of-the-art development, and prospects its potential applications in China.