Possibility of improvement of potentiodynamic method for monitoring corrosion rate of steel reinforcement in concrete

Abstract

Quantitative data on corroding steel reinforcement in reinforced concrete structures are undoubtedly very useful for evaluation of their service life and timely repairs. The method of electrode potential measurement is a convenient and simple test for this purpose, but it provides no quantitative data on corrosion rate and only information regarding active or passive state of steel reinforcement can be obtained. We show here the possibility of obtaining quantitative data on degree of corrosion of steel reinforcement by a potentiodynamic method. The developed method is based on experimentally estimated mathematical relation between the results of potentiodynamic method and degree of corrosion of steel reinforcement. It is possible to calculate the degree of corrosion of steel reinforcement using this mathematical relation and the measured values of current density by the potentiodynamic method.