Performance evaluation of steel primers for concrete repair

摘要

DURING THE process of repairing a damaged concrete structure, a primer coating is applied on the corroded steel after due cleaning. Zinc-rich epoxy primers have been utilized for this purpose. The latest addition to this family of coatings is the cement- and epoxy-based three-component coating. However, the usefulness of this coating as compared to the zinc-rich epoxy coating is not clear. This study was conducted to evaluate the relative performance of two-component zinc-rich and three-component cement- and epoxy-based steel primers. The three-component cement- and epoxy-modified coatings performed better than the two-component zinc-and epoxy-based coatings. The advantage of using the three-component cement-based coatings is that it provides the alkaline environment prevailing in the unrepaired portions of the structure. Based on the data developed in this study criteria for the selection of a steel primer is also provided.