Abstract

ALVES, Henrique; LOURENCO, Zita  and  COLACO, Pedro. Rehabilitation of a reinforced concrete structure using chloride extraction. Corros. Prot. Mater. [online]. 2013, vol.32, n.1, pp.5-9. ISSN 2182-6587.

The most common techniques to treat chloride contaminated concrete are mechanical removal of contaminated concrete and electrochemical techniques such as cathodic protection and chloride extraction, alsoknown as desalination. Although the mechanical removal approach is still often used, is unlikely to be a very long term effective solution. If the repair does not remove all chloride contaminated concrete from around reinforcing bars, then new corroding areas know as incipient anodes, can be formed in the neighbouring regions. Electrochemical techniques offer a more efficient, economic and environmental friendly solution. This article describes the rehabilitation process of a school building, where part of the reinforced concrete structure was severely affected by corrosion of the reinforcement, due to contamination of the concrete by chloride ions. As a rehabilitation technique, the desalination treatment was implemented, in order to reduce the chloride content of the concrete near the reinforcement, to acceptable values, thus eliminating the cause of corrosion. The use of this technique has allowed the complete rehabilitation of the affected part of the concrete structure, without the need to remove the contaminated concrete.

Keywords : Reinforced Concrete; Corrosion; Desalination; Electrochemical Techniques.

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