ARABIAN JOURNAL FOR SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, cilt.47, sa.11, ss.12789-12802, 2022 (SCI-Expanded)
The motivation of
this study is to develop and investigate the properties of nano-coated
reinforcements against corrosion instead of previously used cathodic
protection, epoxy coatings (that reduces reinforcement and concrete adherence)
or organic and inorganic inhibitors (chemicals with proven toxicity). The
purpose of conducting this manuscript is the comparison of the corrosion
resistance of coated and uncoated reinforcements and determine the durability
features and protection effectiveness of the coatings against harmful effects
after the harmful ions leak into the concrete and reach the reinforcement.
Reinforced concrete steels were coated for the first time in the structural
area with nano-coatings by thermionic vacuum arc (TVA) system. Thus, another
application area of nanotechnology was revealed. When we compare the TVA system
with other systems in the literature, the system we recommend allows high
adhesion and high-quality coatings at very low temperatures. The innovative side
of this investigation was development of nano coatings that increase the
corrosion resistance of structural steels. In this research; Zinc (Zn),
Zinc-Boron (Zn-B) and ZincBoron-Nitrogen (Zn-BN) nano-crystal coatings were
applied to reinforced concrete reinforcements with Thermionic Vacuum Arc (TVA)
system. Then, the corrosion rates of coated and uncoated reinforcements were
compared with accelerated corrosion tests. After these tests, the real weight
losses were determined by removing the reinforcements in the specimens. The
real weight loss that occurred after exposing the reinforcement to corrosion
effect was compared with the theoretical weight loss calculated from the
Faraday equation. Experimental results showed that; among the specimens, the
best result was obtained from sample coated with Zn-BN. Compared to uncoated
reinforcement, real weight losses caused by corrosion decreased by 32.67%,
50.64% and 90.08% in Zn, Zn-B and Zn-BN nano crystal composite coated
reinforcements, respectively.