Mechanical and electrochemical performance of carbon fiber reinforced polymer in oxygen evolution environment

Abstract

Carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) is recognized as a promising anode material to prevent steel corrosion in reinforced concrete. However, the electrochemical performance of CFRP itself is unclear. This paper focuses on the understanding of electrochemical and mechanical properties of CFRP in an oxygen evolution environment by conducting accelerated polarization tests. Different amounts of current density were applied in polarization tests with various test durations, and feeding voltage and potential were measured. Afterwards, tensile tests were carried out to investigate the failure modes for the post-polarization CFRP specimens. Results show that CFRP specimens had two typical tensile-failure modes and had a stable anodic performance in an oxygen evolution environment. As such, CFRP can be potentially used as an anode material for impressed current cathodic protection (ICCP) of reinforced concrete structures, besides the fact that CFRP can strengthen the structural properties of reinforced concrete.