Corrosion Resistance Performance of Steel-Reinforced Engineered Cementitious Composite Beams

Abstract

This paper presents the results of an experimental investigation on steel-reinforced engineered cementitious composite (ECC) beams subjected to accelerated corrosion by an electrochemical method. ECC is a micromechanically-based designed, high-performance, fiber-reinforced cementitious composite with high ductility and improved durability due to tight crack width. An accelerated corrosion test method, which was carried out by imposing a constant potential, was used to induce different degrees of corrosion into the reinforcement embedded in ECC prismatic specimens. Mortar specimens that have an equal compressive strength to the ECC specimens were also used as reference specimens. After inducing different degrees of accelerated corrosion, the cracks and the residual flexural load capacity of the test specimens and the mass loss of reinforcing bars embedded in specimens were determined. From the results of this study, it is concluded that due to its high tensile strain capacity and microcracking behaviors, ECC significantly prolonged the corrosion propagation period while enhancing the ability to maintain the load capacity of the beam. These performances of reinforced ECC (R/ECC) are expected to contribute substantially to improving infrastructure sustainability by reducing the amount of repair and maintenance during the service life of the infrastructure.