Tests on bond of galvanized rebar and concrete cured in seawater

It has been claimed in the past that one of the main concerns regarding the use of galvanized reinforcement is a possible decrease of the rebar/concre te bond strength. The available results in the literature are contradictory to this. Besides, no long-term-study results have been found. In this pape r, a series of tests is presented that compares the bond of deformed bare r ebars with galvanized ones, exposed up to 10 years to a chloride environmen t in natural seawater (Mediterranean). In the case of galvanized rebars, th e action of an H-2 inhibitor has been considered as well. The results show that galvanized rebars maintain bond characteristics throughout the test pe riod, with values much higher than the minimum requirements. The addition o f an H-2 inhibitor or the use of cements with a high alkali content has sho wn to be irrelevant in the long term.