Corrosion protection provided by chemical inhibitors to damaged FBEC bars

This paper presents the results of a study conducted to evaluate the corrosion protection provided by chemical inhibitors to the fusion bonded epoxy coated (FBEC) steel bars with surface damage. FBEC bars with 0%, 1%, 2%, or 4% damage to the coating were utilized to prepare concrete specimens contaminated with 0%, 0.4%, 1%, and 2% chloride by weight of cement. Three proprietary inhibitors and one generic inhibitor, calcium nitrate, were selected to assess their performance in decreasing the rate of reinforcement corrosion of the FBEC bars with coating damage. The data developed in this study indicate that reinforcement corrosion increases with the extent of chloride contamination and the degree of damage to the coating. Further, the incorporation of chemical inhibitors was generally beneficial in decreasing the corrosion of FBEC bars. However, one of the organic-based proprietary inhibitor performed much better than the other proprietary inhibitors and calcium nitrate.