Electrochemical Realkalisation of Reinforced Concrete Using A Conductive Mortar Anode

ECS Transactions, 29 (1) 125-131 (2010)
10.1149/1.3532310 The Electrochemical Society
Electrochemical Realkalisation of Reinforced Concrete Using a Conductive Mortar

Anode
F.J. Baldenebroa, C.P. Barriosa, G. Fajardob, R.E. Neza, F. Almerayac, J.L. Almarala,
J.H. Castorenaa
a
Facultad de Ingeniera Mochis, Universidad Autnoma de Sinaloa, Fuente de Poseidn

y Prol. ngel Flores SN, C.U., C.P. 81223, Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mxico
b
Facultad de Ingeniera Civil, Universidad Autnoma de Nuevo Len, Av. Universidad
SN, C.U. , C.P. 66450, San Nicols de los Garza, N.L., Mxico
c
Departamento de Fsica de Materiales/Grupo Corrosin, Centro de Investigacin en
Materiales Avanzados (CIMAV), Miguel de Cervantes 120, Chihuahua, Mxico
Carbonation causes concrete acidification that brings in the loss of

the steel rebar's passive layer, which in turn will allow initiation of
an active corrosion process. A nondestructive technique to revert
this condition is the electrochemical realkalisation (ER) that
consists in applying a direct current between the steel bars and an
external auxiliary electrode placed on concrete surface with the
aim of restoring the alkalinity loss. In the present work is studied
the use of a conductive mortar as anode in the electrochemical
realkalisation of concrete. Carbonated reinforced concrete
specimens with a water/cement ratio of 0.65 were evaluated. ER
was applied by 5 days period with a current density of 2 A/m2 and
using as anode a layer of modified mortar (add 25% graphite
powder by cement weight) saturated with a 1M Na2CO3 solution.
The pH in the concrete was determined by the phenolphthalein test
and potentiometric titration. After the ER treatment the pH value
of the carbonated concrete samples had increased from 8 to 11.95.
Introduction
Concrete is not a good electricity conductor, in fact it can be considered as a dielectric
material, and therefore an improvement of its electrical properties can be obtained by
additions of conductive carbonaceous materials, as graphite powder, carbon fibers or
coke breeze (1). The idea of a conductive cementitious material layer as electrode in
electrochemical techniques to attenuate or avoid the corrosion in reinforced concrete
structures is not new, in the United States at the beginning of the 70s Stratfull (2) used a
conductive layer made with asphalt concrete and coke breeze as anode in impressed
current cathodic protection system applied on a 307 m2 bridge deck. Since this work it
has been applied and studied the cathodic protection in concrete structures with anodes of
this type, some application cases can be found in the literature (3, 4, 5). On the other hand,
recently Perez et al. (6) applied successfully a cementitious conductive paste layer added
with graphite powder as auxiliary electrode in the electrochemical chloride extraction
(ECE) demonstrating that the use of this material is feasible and the efficiencies obtained
are similar to observed with the use of activated titanium anode.
125
Downloaded 06 Jan 2011 to 148.223.46.1. Redistribution subject to ECS license or copyright; see http://www.ecsdl.org/terms_use.jsp
In reinforced concrete structures, generally the corrosion attack is avoided by the high
alkalinity of the pore solution. And a passive layer on surface of steel provides a suitable
corrosion resistance (7), which can be destroyed by carbonation of the concrete. The
carbonation process is the reaction of hydration products dissolved in the pore water with
carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere reducing the pH of the pores solution from
12.5 to less than 9 (8). The electrochemical realkalisation is a method to stop
reinforcement corrosion induced by carbonation, increasing the pH around the steel and
recovering the passive condition (9). With the aim of restoring this alkalinity loss that
brings the carbonation, a direct current density (12 A/m2) is applied between the steel
bars and an external auxiliary electrode (generally steel or activated titanium) immersed
in a sodium carbonate solution. On steel surface the pH is restored by the generation of
OH- (10). The basic operation principle of ER is shown in figure 1.
Based on the prior, this paper aims to demonstrate that the use of a conductive mortar
layer, added with coke breeze, as anode in ER is able to increase the pH around the
reinforced steel in carbonated concrete. Figure 2.
Steel or Activated Ti mesh
Electrolyte
Anode
2OH-
1/2O2+ H2O + 2e-
(+)
Cl-
Na+
DC Power
Supply
Na2CO3
(-)
OHsteel
cathode
H2O+e-
OH- +1/2H2
concrete
Figure 1.Basic principle of concrete ER.

Primary anode
(graphite rod)
(+)
Conductive mortar (Anode)
2OHNa+
DC Power
Supply
1/2O2+ H2O + 2e-
Na2CO3
(-)
ClOHcathode
steel
H2O+e-
OH- +1/2H2
Concrete
Figure 2.ER with conductive mortar anode.
126
Experimental Procedure
Reinforced Concrete Specimens
Prismatic specimens (15 x 30 x 7cm3) of reinforced concrete were elaborated. The
details of the mixture are presented in table I. As reinforcement it was used a corrugated
steel rod with 3/8" diameter and coated partially with a non-corrosive paint leaving an
exposed area of 259.26cm2 (figure 3). The concrete cover thickness is 1.5cm. After to its
elaboration and previous to realize the studies the specimens were cured by 28 days at
25C and RH of 100%.
TABLE I. Conductive mortar and concrete mixture, kg/m3
Cement
Ratio
H2O
Mixture
CPC-30R
w/c
Concrete
300
195
0.65
Conductive mortar**
1
0.39
--*Percent of cement (%)
** The mortar mixture appears in cement proportion.
Coarse
aggregate
1080
---
Fine
aggregate
740
1
Carbonaceous
material *
--25
Figure 3.Steel bars coated with non-corrosive paint (left), and prismatic concrete
specimens (right).
Accelerated carbonation
The carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere in average is 0.03% by volume or air
and in urban zones around 0.06%. The carbonation is a slow process, and therefore to
obtain short term results it is necessary to accelerate the process. For this reason, the
concrete specimens were introduced to a carbonation chamber. Inside the chamber the
concrete specimens were exposed to a controlled environment, CO2 concentration of 25%
in volume of air, at 27 2 C and RH of 80 9%, during a 3 weeks period to guarantee
the carbonation front reaches the reinforcement steel surface. Besides, concrete cubic
blocks (10 x10 x 10cm3) with the same mixture were elaborated and exposed in the
carbonation chamber in order to verify periodically the depth of carbonation front by
phenolphthalein test.
127
Electrochemical Realkalisation
After the accelerated carbonation process was applied on one face of the prismatic
concrete specimen a conductive mortar layer with 1cm thickness (the characteristics of
conductive mortar mixture are shown in table 1). As primary anodes were used two
graphite rods (diameter "), figure 4. After a day of applied the conductive mortar layer
on prismatic specimen it was applied a 1M Na2CO3 solution until soaking the surface of
the conductive layer. A DC power supply (Steren PRL-25, 15V/30A) was connected to
the steel and primary graphite anode. The current density applied was 2A/m2 (52mA
current intensity), and the initial voltage difference applied between anode cathode was
8.8V, to reach the level of current required. The ER treatment was 5 days and the values
of voltage difference and current intensity were monitored daily. The criteria to
determine if the ER has been effective were obtained from the standard NACE SP010707 [11].
Graphite rod
(Primary electrode)
Steel
Concrete
Conductive mortar
overlay
Figure 4.Prismatic concrete specimen with a layer of conductive mortar anode.
Measurement of pH
The measurement of depth carbonation front after the accelerated treatment in the
carbonation chamber, and before and after the ER, was done spraying a 1%
phenolphthalein solution on the surface of a freshly broken concrete. Additionally pH
measurements were obtained by potentiometric titration, drilling powder samples from
carbonated and non-carbonated zones, the powder samples were dissolved in distilled
water.
Results and Discussion

In figure 5 is shown the carbonation front of concrete cubic blocks after 3 weeks in
the carbonation chamber, the depth carbonation front is 3cm, this can be considered as
criterion to assure that the carbonation has reached the reinforcement in the prismatic
beams. The prismatic specimen after the accelerated carbonation treatment and before ER
128
is shown on figure 6 (superior), according to phenolphthalein test is possible to observe

that carbonation front has reached the steel surface. The pH values measured by
potentiometric titration on carbonated and non-carbonated zone are presented in table II.
Table II. pH values before and after applying the ER
Phenolphthalein
Before ER
Pink
9.14
Colorness
8.00
After ER
11.95
8.3
Figure 5.Concrete block after three weeks in the carbonation chamber.
Figure 6.Carbonation front before ER (superior), and after ER (inferior) with conductive
mortar anode.
129
The maximum depth of carbonation front after applied the ER on prismatic specimen
face where conductive mortar layer was applied is 0.8cm, figure 7 (inferior), and in the
zone around the steel bar the pink coloration of the phenolphthalein reached 1.07cm. On
the right steel rod the pink coloration has extended 1.5cm, including the totality of the
concrete cover, this is attributed to the combined effect of OH- generation on the
reinforcement steel surface and the penetration of the Na2CO3 solution from the
conductive mortar layer.
In figure 8 are shown the current density and the applied voltage during the 5 days of
test, the observed variations must to the humidity loss in the mortar layer, thus it was
necessary to fit the exit voltage to maintain the current around 52mA. From this graphic
of current density was calculated the total charge density, the total density charge
calculated during the treatment was of 235.26A-h/m2.
5
4.5
10
4
3.5
3
6
2.5
2
1.5
1
Voltage
Current density
Current density (A/m2)
Voltage differnce applied

(V)
12
0.5
0
0
25
50
75
100
125
Time (h)
Figure 7.Voltage difference and current density applied during the ER treatment to
prismatic concrete specimen.
The NACE SP0107-2007 standard suggests two criteria to determine if the ER

treatment has been effective, the first establishes that the charge density, by unit of steel
area, during the treatment must be at least of 200A-h/m2. And the second criterion
dictates that the effectiveness of the ER treatment is demonstrated by the pH test, using a
solution of phenolphthalein, indicating that the realkalisation degree, by the pink
coloration around the reinforcement, has a minimum of 10mm. The results reported, table
II and figure 7, indicate that this two criteria were satisfied since the charge density in the
present study reach a value of 235A-h/m2 and the minimum extension of the pink
coloration around the steel surface is 1.07cm. On the basis of previous it is demonstrated
that the use of an auxiliary electrode of conductive cementitous material with addition of
25% of coke breeze is able to increase the pH of carbonated concrete by an
electrochemical way.
130
Conclusions
The electrochemical realkalisation of reinforced concrete can be realized using a
modified mortar added with coke breeze as anode. The results of the present study show
that a pH increase from 9.14 to 11.95 around the steel can be obtained with this anode
type.
Acknowledgments
The authors external their gratitude to the UAS by the financial support by means of
projects PROFAPI 2009/025 and PROFAPI 2010/015, and CIMAV and UANL by its
support in the accomplishment of the present work.
References
1. P. Garcs, L. Andin, Memorias 3er Congreso Nacional ALCONPAT, ISBN 978607-95042-0-5, Chihuahua, Mxico (2008).
2. R.F. Stratfull, Experimental Cathodic Protection of a Bridge Deck. Transport Res.
Rec. 500 USA, (1974).
3. L. Bertolini, et al. Cement and Concrete Research, 34, 681, (2004).
4. J. Xu, W. Yao, Construction and Building Materials, 23, 2220, (2009).
5. J. Hou, D.D.L. Chung, Cement and Concrete Research, 27, 649, (1997).
6. A. Prez, M.A. Climent and P. Garcs, Corrosion Science, 52,1576, (2010).
7. W. Yeih, et al., Construction and Building Materials, 19, 516, (2005).
8. T. Gonen, et al., Construction and Building Materials, 21, 1040, (2007).
9. R.B. Polder, Electrochemical Techniques for Corrosion Protection and
Maintenance, H. Bhni, Corrosion in reinforced concrete structures, p. 231 CRC
Press. USA. (2005).
10. M. Castellote, et al., Cement and Concrete Research, 36, 791, (2006).
11. NACE SP0107-2007, Electrochemical Realkalization and Chloride Extraction for
Reinforced Concrete, NACE International, Houston, USA, (2007).
131

Electrochemical Realkalisation of Reinforced Concrete Using A Conductive Mortar Anode

Enviado por

Dados do documento

Título original

Direitos autorais

Formatos disponíveis

Compartilhar este documento

Compartilhar ou incorporar documento

Opções de compartilhamento

Você considera este documento útil?

Este conteúdo é inapropriado?

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

Electrochemical Realkalisation of Reinforced Concrete Using A Conductive Mortar Anode

Enviado por

Direitos autorais:

Formatos disponíveis

ECS Transactions, 29 (1) 125-131 (2010)

10.1149/1.3532310 The Electrochemical Society