Corrosion behaviour of non-ferrous metals embedded in mortar

Abstract

In structural engineering, aluminium, copper and lead usually get into contact with cementitious materials and may be prone to corrode. From weight loss tests a ranking of these materials in terms of their corrosion resistance in mortar was established. To evaluate whether the use of conventional electrochemical techniques is appropriate to assess the corrosion rate of these metals when embedded in mortar, weight loss determinations were followed by measurements of the polarization resistance to compare the electrochemical results with the actual corrosion rate of the metals. Consistent results were obtained only on copper and lead.