Evaluation of corrosion resistance of different steel reinforcement types

Jolley, et al. The corrosion of steel reinforcement in an aging highway infrastructure is a major problem currently facing the transportation engineering community. This is particularly true for bridge engineers. These concerns have initiated continual development of measures to reduce the likelihood of corrosion. To investigate corrosion prevention through the use of corrosion-resistant alloys, the performance of corrosion resistance for MMFX Microcomposite steel reinforcement, a high-strength, high chromium steel reinforcement, was evaluated. The study presented herein presents parallel field and laboratory studies conducted at Iowa State University to determine if MMFX reinforcement provides superior corrosion resistance to epoxy-coated mild steel reinforcement in bridge decks. In the laboratory investigation, which is the focus of this paper, the evaluation process was based on both the ASTM and the Rapid Macrocell accelerated corrosion tests. Powder samples were also collected to estimate the corrosion threshold for different reinforcing bar types.