ELECTROCHEMICAL CHANGES IN CHLORIDE-CONTAMINATED REINFORCED-CONCRETE FOLLOWING CATHODIC POLARIZATION

The effectiveness of the removal of chloride by electrochemical means from cast-in-sodium chloride-contaminated reinforced concrete has been studied. An externally-derived cathodic current was applied between t he reinforcing steel and an inert anode/electrolyte system at the conc rete surface. Two applied cathodic-current densities of 1 and 3 A m-2 of concrete surface were investigated. Corrosion-rate results using a potentiostatic polarisation resistance technique indicate that the chl oride-extraction treatments successfully removed chloride ions from th e reinforcement/concrete interfacial region and repassivated the reinf orcing steel.