Mitigation of steel corrosion in concrete by electrochemical chloride extraction at the AI-supporting electric source

Abstract

The present study concerns the corrosion mitigation of electrochemical chloride extraction (ECE) in concrete structure. Concrete specimen was fabricated with 5.0% chloride in cast, while the other specimen was exposed to 4.0M NaCl solution for 1 year to accelerate corrosion of steel. Then, the ECE was applied to the concrete specimen with 1000 mA/m(2) of the current density for 2, 4 and 8 weeks, respectively. During the ECE, the corrosion current density and corrosion potential were regularly monitored. As a result, the ECE was very effective in mitigating the degree of corrosion on the steel surface. The corrosion current density was significantly reduced from thousands to decades mA/m(2), while the corrosion potential was mostly shifted to positive direction. Assuming that the corrosion starts at 1.0 mA/m(2) of the corrosion current density or/and -275 mV vs SCE of the corrosion potential, the ECE could not fully achieve the repassivation of the steel, although its degree was lowered more or less depending on the duration of the treatment and type of chloride contamination. A visual examination confirmed that an increase in the duration of the treatment could lower the rust formation, but never fully removed all rust stains.