Corrosion of steel bars embedded in fibre reinforced concrete under chloride attack: State of the art

This literature review summarises the influence of fibres on the main parameters governing corrosion of conventional reinforcement. The ability of fibres to suppress crack growth has proven to decrease permeation in cracked concrete while chloride diffusion, in uncracked concrete, seems to remain unaffected by the addition of fibres. Steel fibres in concrete are considered to be insulated owing to the high impedance of the passive layer. However, they will become conductive if they are depassivated. Although low carbon steel fibres may suffer severe corrosion when located near the concrete surface or bridging the cracks, embedded fibres will remain free of corrosion despite high chloride contents. Published experimental observations indicate that fibres had little influence on the corrosion rate of rebars. Steel fibres improved corrosion resistance of rebars moderately; this is mainly attributed to a reduced ingress of chlorides due to arrested crack growth.