INFLUENCE OF STEEL FIBRES ON CORROSION OF REINFORCEMENT IN CONCRETE IN CHLORIDE ENVIRONMENTS: A REVIEW

Paper in proceedings, 2013

This paper presents various durability aspects of steel-fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC). Published research results show that due to the limited length of the fibres and the casting conditions, steel fibres embedded in concrete show no corrosion signs despite high chloride concentrations. It was also reported that due to the fibres’ ability to arrest crackwidth propagation, permeability was positively affected for cracked concrete compared with plain concrete. Recent research suggested that some of the fibres might be interconnected and in contact with the ordinary steel reinforcement, forming a galvanic couple where the fibres would act as sacrificial anodes protecting the rebar and reducing or even stopping the corrosion process. Based on reviewed durability properties, it is argued that steel fibres could be used in reinforced concrete (RC) structures exposed to chloride environments to improve their overall durability performance. However, further experimental results supporting this hypothesis are needed.