"Corrosion Protection Shield of Steel Bars, Due to Steel Fibers in Concrete"

Abstract

Severe deterioration caused by corroding reinforcing steel in concrete structures is a major concern in the maintenance of safe and reliable infrastructure. The corrosion behavior of steel fibers and steel bars under two different aggressive conditions of modified ferroxyl gel reagent and wet-dry salt spray are described. In general, the results in the aggressive gel environment indicate that when steel fibers and steel bars were contacting each other, the initiation of corrosion in the steel fibers became considerable. When the steel fibers were electrically connected to the steel bars, the steel fibers tend to become the anode while the steel bars tend to become the cathode. The corrosion initiation, its propagation and the growth of the corrosion zones occurred in the steel fibers. The steel bars, set in the cathode zone, were protected by the surrounding steel fibers which formed a corrosion protective shield. This galvanic protection behavior by steel fibers was clearly observed in ferroxyl transparent gel.