Estudio del comportamiento mecánico y frente a corrosión de armaduras pasivas de acero revestidas con resina epoxi

Study of mechanical behaviour and durability of reinforcing bars fusion-bonded to an epoxy coating

Spanish Concrete Instruction EHE-08 prescribes 50 and 100 years for the working life of the reinforced concrete structures. Chloride attack requires excessive thickness of the concrete cover and it is recommended alternative ways to protect the bars. To coat the bars with a fusion-bonded epoxy is a promising alternative. Two doubts are associated to this solution: 1) effectiveness of the epoxy coat against accelerated corrosion tests, and 2) alteration of the bond between reinforced bar and concrete in the pull-out test. This work presents the experimental results of accelerated corrosion and pullout tests of reinforced bars coated fusion-bonded epoxy. The tests were performed with bars of 8, 16 and 25 mm diameter. Moreover, the influence of localized damage on the epoxy coated in the corrosion accelerated test was studied, and even the effectiveness of the in situ reparation. The results show a great effectiveness of the epoxy coat against the accelerated corrosion tests and practically null influence in the pull out results.