Experimental study on interface corrosion between steel and concrete

Nowadays, steel-concrete hybrid members and structures are widely used in the various types of structures such as bridges, buildings and port structures. The interface between steel and concrete exists everywhere in the steel-concrete hybrid structures. Generally the corrosion of the interface between steel and concrete does not occur due to the alkaline environment of concrete. However, if the interface corrosion between steel and concrete occurs, the durability of the steel-concrete hybrid structures may be interfered. Therefore, this issue is required to investigate soon. In this paper, generation and progress of the interface corrosion between steel and concrete are investigated using the element test specimen which simulates the actual interface condition in the steel-concrete hybrid structures. Several types of element exposure tests are conducted, that is, the test focusing on the effect of the different environment of corrosion condition, the test focusing on the effect of the bond between steel and concrete, and the existence of the paint on the steel plate. Moreover, the effect of humidity on the interface neutralization of the concrete surface and the corrosion of the steel plate is investigated. As a result, the effect of the various parameters on the interface corrosion between steel and concrete are investigated through the experiments, and the mechanism of generation and progress of the interface corrosion between steel and concrete is predicted based on the experimental data.