Corrosion Mitigation of Reinforcement in Concrete using Magnesium Anodes

Abstract

In the present work, an attempt has been made for the cathodic protection of structural steel reinforcement using Magnesium anode. For the same, two slabs were casted using steel reinforcement mat of 10 mm diameter. First slab was casted with cement containing 3.5% NaCl by weight of cement was added, while the other was casted without NaCl. Magnesium anode with design life of three years was centrally placed in both the cases. Half-cell potential readings were taken on regular basis along with temperature and relative humidity. It could be concluded that the negative potential in both cases increased towards the center, i.e. towards the anode. Further, significant drop in negative potential could be observed in the slabs with increase in duration of cathodic protection. Relative humidity and temperature were found to play major role in HCP readings.