Evaluation of Cementitious Repair Mortars for Corrosion Resistance

Repair and rehabilitation of deteriorated concrete structures are essential not only to utilize them for their intended service life, but also to assure the safety and serviceability of the associated components. A good repair improves the function and performance of the structure, thus prevents ingress of aggressive species to the steel/concrete interface and improves its durability. It is important to evaluate the performance of repair materials available for repairing the deteriorated concrete structures. This investigation was carried out to evaluate the durability characteristics of five types of modified cement based repair mortars. The corrosion resistance of the repair materials was evaluated by conducting various tests such as water absorption, rapid chloride ion penetration test, impressed voltage, 90 days ponding test, macro cell corrosion test, weight loss measurement, etc. Details of the test and their results were discussed. It is concluded that the modified cement based repair mortars formulated with different mineral admixtures (fly ash and/or silica fume) showed improved corrosion resistance.