PERFORMANCE OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS IN CORROSIVE CONDITIONS EVALUATION OF ADHESION LOSS IN POLYMERS VIA CATHODIC DISBONDMENT AND A NEWLY DEVELOPED NDE TECHNIQUE

Fiber reinforced composites and polymer coatings are currently used in many niche applications across many industries Composite materials are being used not only as stand alone structural members, but also as a reinforcing member for metal or concrete structures With these new applications for composites, an evaluation of environmental variables which may affect the integrity of reinforced or repaired parts is essential, especially for wet environments The emphasized property for composite materials in these applications is overall strength, though in wet environments the responsibility of the composite as a coating or protective barrier must also be considered The goal of this work is to evaluate the effect of impacts (simulated per ASTM G14), cathodic protection and disbondment (simulated per ASTM G95), and electrolytes corrosive to the substrate on the performance of the steel composite system In addition, a proof of concept non destructive evaluation (NDE) technique is evaluated for detection of disbondment and adhesion loss in parallel with ASTM G95