摘要: |
Stainless Steel is a versatile material which is in use for more than a century. It is stronger than Aluminum with physical properties comparable to carbon steel for engineering and industrial applications including architectural works. Austenitic Stainless Steel possesses high ductility characteristics easily weldable for fabrication besides corrosion resistance. In Civil engineering, carbon steels are in use since many decades both as reinforcements in cement concrete components and Structural steel members. Annually, the cost of maintenance of Steel bridges through painting (to prevent rusting) runs into millions of rupees. Although it was expected that concrete would offer adequate protection to embedded reinforcements, occurrence of corrosion continued to plague RCC bridges and structure elements alike resulting in extensive cost of repair or rehabilitation. To deal with the problem of rebar corrosion in RCC bridges, attempts were made to offer protective coatings on reinforcements and sometimes on concrete surface itself with a fair degree of success. It was like postponing the problem of corrosion to a later date. |