Utilização de semipilha cobre sulfato de cobre para mapeamento de potenciais eletroquímicos em pilares

Abstract

Concrete structures are, in some way, severely affected by the structural rationalization imposed by civil engineering as their sessions are increasingly optimized, and any design or execution errors can lead to a major loss of their life time. In this way, the study of the pathology is essential to minimize the risks of accidents and financial losses. The present work has the purpose of using copper copper sulfate half-cell for the mapping of electrochemical potentials in pillars. With this mapping, it is possible to predict possible pathologies related to the corrosion of steel in reinforced concrete pillars without the need of visual analysis, that is, without major impacts on the structure and consequently, without great financial impact. For this, a pillar of the university restaurant (UFPB) was chosen and detailed each step necessary for the accomplishment of the procedure. A pillar of the CCEN with strong evidence of corrosion, but with an epoxy coating, was also used to demonstrate the effect of such coatings on the half-cell reading. A bibliographical research was carried out to understand how corrosion occurs in reinforced concrete reinforcement, defining concepts of cells, chloride contamination, carbonation and corrosion. In the final analysis of the mapping, it was verified that the pillar of the university restaurant had no evidence of Corrosion due to the fact that it is relatively new and has a significant concrete coating and the use of the copper copper sulfate half-cell was ideal for a quick and cheap analysis. In the pillar of the CCEN, it was found that the existence of an epoxy coating isolated the pillar reinforcement, barring the advance of the corrosion and significantly altering the half-cell reading. The use of half-cell in pillars is an inexpensive solution for corrosion analysis, with the disadvantage of the removal of any coating present on the pillar for accurate reading.