Economical Tests for Assessing Corrosion Performance of Steel in Concrete

Abstract

The repair and rehabilitation of corroding infrastructure systems consumes significant resources. It is well documented that significant value is gained by using durable materials that exhibit long-term, repair-free performance. In the US, most state highway agencies (SHAs) are approached by material producers and requests are made to evaluate the material for possible use in the infrastructure system. SHAs have limited resources and are in need of new evaluation methods that are reliable, fast, and cost-effective. This research evaluated four different accelerated test methods for evaluating the corrosion performance of steel in cementitious materials. Results were compared with results from the commonly used standard ASTM G 109 test method. The corrosion performance of conventional bars, stainless steel bars, galvanized bars, and epoxy-coated bars were evaluated using concrete and mortar mixtures with different water-cement ratios and containing different amounts of a corrosion inhibitor. The effectiveness, time requirements, complexity, and costs of the new test methods were compared with the ASTM G 109 method. This research found that the Rapid Macro-cell Test (RMT) is relatively simple to perform and provides reasonable results for most products in a reasonable time frame with minimal relative cost.