Stainless Steel Rebar has been proven to be a superior
corrosion resistant reinforcing material. Below
are excerpts from independent studies showing stainless
steel rebar to be an excellent and cost effective
choice. Links to entire studies in .pdf format are provided.
"Improving
Tomorrow's Infrastructure: Extending the Life of
Concrete Structures with Solid Stainless Steel
Reinforcing Bar" - by Bergmann and Schnell.
- Recent advances in concrete
technology have provided structural designers with
materials which can easily last more than 100 years, and
the life of many concrete structures today is limited by
the reinforcing. Improvements in the life of the
reinforcing can translate directly into extended life of
the structure.
"Corrosion Resistance of Alternative Reinforcing Bars:
An Accelerated Test" by Wiss, Janney
Elstner Associates - Stainless Steel 316 and 2205 bars
were largely free of corrosion except some minor
corrosion product near to cut ends. The coating
applied to the cut ends may have generated crevices
which are at least partially responsible for the
observed corrosion. These two types of
stainless bars exhibited phenomenal low corrosion rates,
approximately 0.1 percent of conventional steel.
"A Pilot Experimental Study on the Low Cycle Fatigue
Behavior of Stainless Steel Rebars for Earthquake
Engineering Applications" by Yihui Zhou, Yu-Chen
Ou, George C. Lee and Jerome S. O'Connor, University at
Buffalo - Enduramet 32 has the highest ductility
and the best low-cycle fatigue performance among the
steels investigated. In general, the three
types of stainless steel (Enduramet 32, 2205 duplex and
316LN), are better than A706 G60.
"The Long Term
Performance of Three Ontario Bridges Constructed with
Galvanized Reinforcement" by F. Pianca and H.
Schell, Ontario Ministry of Transportation - ...Three
Ontario structures were studied, built in 1975 and 1976
using galvanized reinforcement... Findings of the
evaluation indicate the long-term (30 year) performance
of galvanized reinforcement, while marginally better
than conventional black reinforcement, showed evidence
of corrosion and resulting delamination of concrete when
the chloride content of the concrete exceeded the
threshold to initiate corrosion. On one structure
approximately 10% of the deck had deteriorated and
required rehabilitation before achieving even a
twenty-year service life. Based on
the structures surveyed, galvanized reinforcement in the
Ontario highway environment did not provide the
anticipated corrosion protection.
"Effects of Galvanic Coupling between Carbon Steel and
Stainless Steel Reinforcement in Concrete" by
Bertolini, Gastaldi, Pedeferri and Pedeferri - The
coupling of corroding carbon steel with stainless steels
are generally modest, and they are negligible with
respect those due to the coupling with passive carbon
steel which always surround the corroding area.
"Galvanic
Coupling between Carbon Steel and Stainless Steel
Reinforcements" by Qian, National Research
Council Canada, Qu, Hokkaido University, Japan and
Coates, NIckel Institute - Based on this investigation,
it can be concluded that use of SS and CS reinforcing
bars in the same concrete structure will not increase
the corrosion risk on CS even when these bars are in
direct (electrical) contact. In fact, the increase
in the corrosion rate of CS due to galvanic coupling of
SS with corroding CS was less than that of the
combination of non-corroded CS with corroding CS.
Stainless steel, with its ability to resist
chloride-induced corrosion, can be used in areas
vulnerable to chloride ingress. Therefore,
the judicious use of stainless steel with carbon steel
in the high-corrosion-risk areas of a concrete structure
can be a cost-effective option for reducing corrosion
and greatly extending the service life of concrete
structures. |
