NON CONTACTING CORROSION METHOD APPLIED TO THE STEEL CORROSION RATE DETERMINATION IN DIFFERENT SOLUTIONS AND REINFORCED CONCRETE SPECIMENS.

摘要

All the current techniques used to measure the metallic corrosion require contact with the metal.rnParticularly, in the case of reinforcement corrosion, this signifies the need to reach the bar that isrnembedded in the concrete, which may consequently result in the disruption of the integrity of the realrnstructures. This paper explores the feasibility of using a new method for polarizing the reinforcement orrnany metal in an electrolyte, without the need of direct contact with it. The polarization is obtained throughrnthe induction of current from an external electrical field. The current runs through the electrolyte and thernmetal in parallel, depending on the electrode arrangement. The resulting Polarization Resistancerncalculated is termed as Inductive, R_p = R_(pi). The Inductive is calculated by the model of resistances inrnparallel, which requires a separate measurement of the electrolyte ohmic resistance. In this study,rnsolutions with several resistivities and concrete specimens with and without chlorides have been used.rnThe results indicate that electrolytes of low resistivity mask the measurement, and consequently, R_(pi) couldrnnot be calculated. In electrolytes with high resistivity, such as concrete, the feasibility is found to dependrnon the relative values of R_e and R_(pi).