Degradation and durability of steel in concrete: Evaluation by electrochemical techniques

Abstract

A brief analysis is made of the technical and economic importance of reinforced concrete structures, the corrosion factors that can limit their durability, and the ways of evaluating deterioration kinetics using electrochemical techniques in the laboratory and in-situ on real structures. Attention is drawn to the work performed at CENIM since the 1970's, in collaboration with the ICCET, developing electrochemical techniques for studying corrosion that are applicable to the steel/concrete system. These techniques are enormously sensitive compared to those previously available and have allowed a quantitative content to be given to much of the qualitative knowledge acquired hitherto.