Performance evaluation of innovative self-healing corrosion protection coatings for prestressing strands

This study presents the design and experimental evaluation of advanced corrosion protection coatings for application on prestressing strands which are the core constituents of prestressed concrete structures such as bridges. Variety of self-heal coatings embodying corrective and protective phenomena in response to the degrading effects of corrosion have been designed and tested in simulated aggressive weathering conditions. Standard 7-wire prestressing strands coated with self-heal epoxy, self-heal toughened epoxy and hybrid epoxy coating systems were subjected to salt fog spray up to a duration of 2500 h, and 3M CalCl₂, 3M NaOH, saturated Ca(OH)₂ solutions and distilled water up to 45 days duration. Furthermore, rust creepage of the coated prestressing strands was measured after extended exposure to aggressive corrosive environment. Bond strength of the self-heal epoxy coated prestressing strands was evaluated through pullout test using high-strength concrete. Significant improvement in corrosion resistance, hydrolytic stability, marked reduction in rust creepage, and improved bond strength, brought about by the innovative self-heal epoxy coatings were recorded in laboratory tests. Furthermore, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) data proved excellent corrosion protection qualities of self-healing coatings. The ATR-FTIR spectra of various self-heal epoxy coating systems and optic microscopic images of the coatings further verified these findings.