New Ferrocene Based Anticorrosion Formula for Concrete Steel Rebars

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI) proposes to demonstrate the anticorrosion efficacy of a steel surface treatment based on a chemically bound ferrocene analog. The proposed ferrocene based surface treatment will limit corrosion rates on steel rebar in the aggressive sea-water saturated concrete pore space environment to 6.0 ƒYm/year, resulting in a rebar service lifetime greater than 30 years. The proposed surface treatment molecule will form a water insoluble, chelated monolayer when deposited from aqueous media. This electroactive coating will provide anti-corrosion protection by functioning as a hydrophobic barrier, acting as an organic corrosion inhibitor and raising the effective oxidation potential of the steel surface. The surface treatment will be deposited from a water based solvent and have applicability for on-site deposition. In Phase I PSI will demonstrate function of the anticorrosion surface treatment in controlled laboratory experiments. The Phase I Option effort will focus on demonstrating application and function of the anticorrosion surface treatment on actual rebar samples and initiate the transition to scale up and in situ testing in Phase II.