Comparison between the corrosion forecast based on the potential measurement and the determination of the corrosion rate of the reinforcement bar by means of electrochemical techniques

Abstract

The ASTA4 876-91 standard establishes a corrosion forecast of concrete reinforced bar by measuring the electrochemical potential. This forecast is based on thermodynamic considerations without taking into account the kinetic of the corrosion process. A comparison was made between the results obtained based on this standard and others using electrochemical techniques (Tafel, Rp, EIS, Electrochemical Noise). These techniques allows to obtain the corrosion rate in samples having 0.4, 0.5 and 0.66 water/cement ratios submitted to salt spray outdoors and by immersion in 3% saline solution during a test time of 20 months. Differences were detected between the results obtained using the ASTM standard and the electrochemical techniques used. The main difference is that samples submitted to immersion shows a higher probability of corrosion than samples submitted to salt spray; however, the electrochemical techniques showed the contrary concerning the corrosion kinetic process .A comparison respecting corrosion rate was also made between the results obtained by the different electrochemical techniques. It is very well known that all electrochemical techniques supposed always general corrosion except electrochemical noise. Using the technique the pitting index can be calculated. It shows that localized corrosion is the most predominant