Abstract
The infrastructure of the Mexican southeastern coastal zone is affected by corrosion problems which are due, mainly, to the construction bad practices and to the aggressive environmental agents (temp., Relative Humidity, chlorides). The first actions for knowing and controlling them have been taken on the coast of Progreso, Yucatán. Cylinders of solid concrete and others with an embedded rebar were constructed and exposed to the marine environment studying different variables like w/c ratio, time of curing, coated and uncoated rebars, chlorides and CO2 penetration and place of exposure with respect to the seashore. The cylinders were tested through corrosion potential and polarization resistance measurements in order to detect, in a first stage, the onset and propagation stages of the corrosion processes and to correlate the apparent corrosion current density (Icorr) with the chloride concentration in the rebar surface. These results are discussed and compared with those of the literature and correspond to a seven month exposure period of the cylinders with uncoated rebars in front of the Gulf of México. During this period of time, the cylinders with w/c ratio higher than 0.5 showed an Icon higher than 0.2 uA/cm2 with no dependence of the curing time. A carbonation profile which varies according to the w/c ratio and that has still not a strong influence on the Icorr was observed.
