Abstracts Book - IMRC 2018

• SE5-P011
CORROSION OF STEEL TENDONS COATED WITH FLEXIBLE FILLERS
SUBJECTED TO DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS.
Ingrid Santillan 1 , Francisco Presuel Moreno 1 , Laura Arcelia Vaca Arciga 2
1 FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY, Ocean Engineering, United States. 2 Universidad Autónoma de
Nuevo León, ingeniera civil, Mexico.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) has recently implemented flexible
filler as corrosion protection for certain post-tensioning tendons (PT) used in bridge
structures. This study will focus on the microcrystalline waxes as flexible fillers.
Some of the functions of the filler materials are: prevention of circulation of gases
or liquids within the strand duct and in the anchorage zone; corrosion protection;
reduction of friction between metallic components and avoid fretting corrosion.
There is a need to better understand how flexible fillers would perform in different
environments.This research evaluates the corrosion protection effect of five
different microcrystalline waxes and their behavior under different environmental
conditions. In an enclosed container 7-wire steel strands with a length of at least 4
ft were coated with different types of filler. These coated strand segments were
provided by FDOT-SRC. Some of the coated strand segments were selected for
outdoor exposure (i.e., coated strands have been removed the hdpe/pvc enclosure
in which these strand segments were provided). In this study, five fillers were
investigated including Trenton, Civetea (Cirinject CP), Garringer (Nontribos VZ
Inject), Sanchem (NO-OX-ID-NG) and Sonneborn (Visconorust-2090-P). Some of the
tests involved exposure of coated strands/wires to high moisture environments or
outdoor environment. For other set of tests, three different fungi (bacteria) species
were introduced purposely (spray) to contaminate the five fillers mentioned
above. Continually visual inspection has been carried out regarding rust formation
in the strand or change in the appearance of the coating. Pictures of the strands
were taken every two weeks. Microscopic analyses were done after a year for the
specimens coated with Civetea and Sanchem and almost 4 months for the
specimens coated with Trenton. Two sections of approx. 12 cm were cut-off on
selected strands exposed at the semisheltered area. It is worth to mention that
under most of the environmental conditions investigated, the specimens coated
with the microcrystalline wax that last presented corrosion where the ones coated
with Sonneborn.
Keywords: corrosion, steel, flexible filler
Presenting authors email: ingridsantillanb@gmail.com