| Abstract: | The acknowledged serious deterioration of reinforced concrete structures due to chloride induced corrosion has been the main fuel for research and development of very dense and impermeable concrete, so‐called high performance concrete (HPC). This development has dominated concrete research up through the 80'ies and 90'ies. The results have technically been successful. However, the practical use of such concretes on site have often posed serious difficulties, resulting in at times very low performance concrete structures although HPC was specified. The discrepancy between concrete quality reached in the laboratory, what is being specified in the design and what can realistically be achieved on site is seldom in balance. Alternative means of more or less reliable means of corrosion prevention, often based on organic materials, have during recent years been developed to protect our inorganic concrete and reinforcement. However, a highly reliable means of corrosion prevention has been the introduction of stainless steel reinforcement, which is available with dimensions and strengths directly interchangeable with ordinary carbon steel reinforcement. It has been proven that stainless steel and carbon steel can be in metallic contact when cast into concrete, without causing galvanic corrosion. This seems, for the present, to be like an unexpectedly simple and highly reliable solution to the corrosion problems. As exemplified, this technology is rapidly gaining momentum in highly corrosive environments – and concretes being much more robust to execution can now take over from HPC. |
