Measurement of Water Retention Ratio in Rust Layer by Electrical Resistance

One significant form of deterioration in weathering steel bridges is corrosion, and steel requires water and oxygen to corrode. As a measurement method for the wetness time of the rust layer on weathering steel, measuring electrical resistance has been proposed. In this research, the fundamental data have been collected as preliminary considerations to develop this method of measuring water retention in the rust layer. Based on the measurement of specimens, it is revealed that measuring the exact amount of water retention is difficult because electrical resistance depends on the thickness of the rust layer and the supplied amount of NaCl. Thus, the water retention ratio is calculated by dividing the mass of the water-retained specimen by the mass of the full water-retained specimen. These measurement results suggest a potential method for predicting water retention ratio by measuring electrical resistance and rust thickness. The approximate water retention ratio is predicted by plotting electrical resistance and rust thickness in the proposed diagram.

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