METNA CO — Department of Transportation SBIR Phase I: 141FH6

Description

Prestressing strands are the core constituents of prestressed concrete structures. Steel offers important advantages over the emerging classes of composite tendons in this application; susceptibility of prestressing steel to corrosion, however, is a concern. The market appeal of existing corrosion-resistant strands has been dampened by their high cost and some enduring technical concerns. In recent years, advanced corrosion-resistant coating and alloying strategies have been developed, which are yet to be evaluated in infrastructure applications. These new strategies provide powerful tools for overcoming the drawbacks of today’s corrosion-resistant strands. The proposed Phase I project will: (i) adapt selected corrosion protection strategies to prestressing strands; (ii) assess the pertinent damage resistance, stability and adhesion capacity of corrosion protection measures; (iii) evaluate the effects on the mechanical performance of strands, bond behavior and split cracking in concrete, and prestressing tooling; (iv) assess the corrosion resistance of the new strands; and (v) estimate the cost implications of the corrosion protection strategies adapted to prestressing strands. Similar assessments will be made of commercially available corrosion-resistant and conventional (black) prestressing strands. Promising strategies will be identified for further development towards production of corrosion-resistant strands with cost and performance attributes which favor their broad market acceptance.