The Earthquake Engineering Online Archive

Solving the Galvanic Cell Problem in Ferro-Cement

Christensen, Kenneth A.

UCB/SESM-1971/14, Dept. of Civil Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, 1971-07, 66 pages (500/C23/71/14)

The nature and constituion of ferro-cement is reviewed with special reference to the structure of cement paste to protect steel reinforcing materials from a marine environment. A galvanic cell between the plain steel reinforcing bar and the galvanized steel mesh is identified and the use of chromium trioxide (CrO3) in the mix water improves mechanical properties and provides a barrier to corrosion of reinforcement.

Available online: http://nisee.berkeley.edu/documents/SEMM/SEMM-71-14.pdf (7 MB)