Effect of Current Modes on Electrochemical Chloride Extraction Treatments for Concrete

Abstract

The current mode plays an important role in the Electrochemical Chloride Extraction (ECE) treatment for concrete. In this study, the experiments were conducted to investigate how the ECE process would be affected by different current modes (continuous and intermittent current modes). The results showed that there were remaining amounts of chloride ions that were hard to be removed by both current modes. Additionally, the porosity under the two current modes showed the same upward trend compared to the initial value, and the chloride diffusion coefficient increased by 1 - 2 times. Also, the chloride-contaminated concrete subjected to the continuous current mode had a higher cumulative chloride extraction content than that subjected to the intermittent mode. The intermittent current mode could not increase the effectiveness of extracting chloride when the current density was not greater than 3 A/m2 and the on-off ratio was not less than 3.2.

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