College

College of Engineering and Polymer Science

Date of Last Revision

2023-05-05 22:22:52

Major

Corrosion Engineering

Honors Course

4250-497

Number of Credits

3

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Date of Expected Graduation

Spring 2022

Abstract

Electrochemical chloride removal (ECR) was tested to see its effectiveness in preventing corrosion on rebar samples within 3.5 wt% sodium chloride concrete. In order to do this, three scenarios were evaluated using electrochemical techniques such as cyclic potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectrsoscopy as well as visual inspections. The three scenarios that were evaluated were one with no chlorides present within the concrete, one that was a worst-case scenario where extreme pitting and corrosion were initiated, and one that had chlorides present and received the ECR treatment. Cyclic polarization curves showed that the ECR and reference without chlorides had similar corrosion current densities, within one order of magnitude, while the ECR corrosion potential was much more negative than that of the reference cell. Both the reference and the ECR samples outperformed the worst-case scenario sample in the electrochemical testing and the visual inspection. CPP was used to confirm that even in the presence of chlorides, when ECR is applied, the rebar sample within the contaminated concrete receives additional protection and inhibition to the corrosion that would often be occurring within. The corrosion rates for the three samples were as follows- Reference- 2.45 mpy, Worst-Case- 525.42, and ECR-10.47. The calculated corrosion rate for the ECR sample was approximately 50 times smaller than that of the worst-case scenario situation. These calculated corrosion rates were also used to confirm the belief and understanding that as the ECR is applied, chlorides are expelled from the concrete and thus the sample becomes more protected and thus has better corrosion resistance and the lifespan of the sample increases.

Research Sponsor

Dr. David Bastidas

First Reader

Jacob Ress

Second Reader

Dr. Jennifer Lillard

Honors Faculty Advisor

Dr. Hongbo Cong

Proprietary and/or Confidential Information

No

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