Pitting corrosion of carbon steel and iron in chloride containing alkaline environment is already well investigated, although a couple of questions are not clarified satisfactorily. The critical chloride content for steel in concrete and the critical chloride to hydroxide ion ratio for steel in alkaline solutions is still a major concern, considering chloride induced corrosion problems of steel in concrete. Another not satisfactorily clarified point is the repassivation of carbon steel in consequence of cathodic polarization. In the recent literature some indications are shown that repassivation occurs after a certain time of polarization. GLASS [4-9] and PEDEFERRI [1-3] draw the conclusion that the ennoblement of open circuit potentials (OCP) indicates re-passivation effects due to cathodic polarization. SAGÜÉS [10] carried out potentiodynamic repassivation tests and draws the conclusion that the repassivation potential Er is nearly independent of the solution composition, but influenced by severity of corrosion attack and is in the potential range from - 0.8 V to - 0.4 V vs. Saturated Calomel Electrode (SCE). The transferability of SAGÜÉS results to questions concerning cathodic protection (cp) is questionable, as potentiodynamic polarization tests (PPT) give no information on changes induced by long time polarization.
Therefore, the investigations discussed in this paper aim to clarify, to what extend the re-passivation of carbon steel due to cathodic polarization occurs, and if the ennoblement of OCP is a sufficient indication for repassivation. In a first step the corrosion state of five nominal equal test specimens was determined by electrochemical techniques, i.e. electrochemical noise measurements (ENM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). After determining the initial corrosion state by evaluating the charge transfer resistance and the polarization resistance respectively as well as evaluating potential and current noise signals, the specimens were polarized cathodically. Impedance data were recorded previous to, during and after polarization. The impedance data were evaluated by equivalent circuit fitting with special attention to charge transfer resistances and diffusion properties. The results show that reduction of oxides and oxygen diffusion during cathodic polarization has strong impact on the systems behavior.
Corrosion of steel reinforcement in concrete exposed to chloride containing environments is a serious problem in civil engineering practice. Electrochemical methods, e.g., potential mapping, provide information whether the steel reinforcement is still passive or depassivation has been initiated. By applying such techniques no information on the type of corrosion, its extent and distribution of corrosion products is available. Particular the corrosion progress is a significant problem. Especially in the case of macrocell corrosion in reinforced concrete structures, the development at the anode cannot be separated into corrosion damage resulting from macrocell corrosion or self-corrosion. Until now also in laboratory tests it is impossible to collect such information without destroying specimens after electrochemical testing was performed. To overcome this problem it was tried to study the steel surface within the mortar specimens by X-ray tomography (CT). Within the scope of these investigations it could be shown, that X-ray tomography is suitable to make corrosion pits and their development visible which are embedded in a mortar with a cover thickness of about 35 mm. In this publication the time-dependent corrosion damage of reinforced steel is documented by X-ray tomography.
Although the complex changes at the steel-concrete interface due to cathodic polarisation are widely acknowledged to have a beneficial influence concerning the cathodic protection (CP) of steel in concrete, some questions concerning the repassivation of carbon steel in consequence of cathodic polarisation are still not satisfactorily clarified. In the recent literature, some indications are presented that repassivation occurs after a certain time of polarisation. Therefore, the investigations discussed in this paper aim to clarify, to what extent the re-passivation of carbon steel due to cathodic polarisation occurs, and if the ennoblement of OCP is a sufficient indication for repassivation. In a first step, the corrosion state of five nominal equal test specimens was determined by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). After determining the initial corrosion state by evaluating the charge transfer resistance and the polarisation resistance, respectively, the specimens were polarised cathodically. Impedance data were recorded before, during and after polarisation. The impedance data were evaluated by equivalent circuit fitting with special attention to charge transfer resistances and the impact of diffusion on the corrosion and polarisation behaviour. The results indicate that the reduction of oxides and oxygen diffusion during cathodic polarisation has strong impact on the systems behaviour and that repassivation effects occur after switching off the polarisation current and during depolarisation, respectively.
At the Institute for Building Materials Research (ibac) in Aachen and the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) in Berlin a joint research project is currently running with the aim to develop a numerical model which describes cathodic protection (CP) of reinforced concrete. Special project focus is the CP of the rear reinforcement layer. The resulting model shall include the impact of chemical alterations at the steel surface and within the adjacent concrete on the polarisation behaviour of reinforcement, which are induced by long-term application of CP. The investigations presented in this paper aim to clarify open aspects on the migration of chloride ions due to small electric fields as applied in CP of steel in reinforced concrete structures. A comparatively new method, laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), was applied in order to determine chloride concentration profiles on laboratory specimens as one of several model parameters for a mathematical description of CP of the rear reinforcement of reinforced concrete structures. The paper concerns migration tests using non-saturated specimens under laboratory conditions at constant voltage and the application of the experimental parameters on FEM-calculations. The presented results suggest the conclusion that even comparably small electric fields, as applied in CP of steel in concrete, may lead to significant and sustainable reduction in chloride concentration at the surface of the reinforcement.