• Journal of Korean Society of Steel Construction
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• v.16 no.4 s.71
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• pp.415-423
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• 2004

To investigate the long-term corrosion resistance of an uncoated weathering steel, an important outdoor constructional steel material, skyward surfaces of the weathering steel and a control steel initially exposed to rural and industrial atmospheres for 9 years were electrochemically tested in neutral artificial rain in terms of electrochemical potentials, impedances, and anodic potentiodynamic polarization curves. Their results were then discussed. A quite passive and stable rust layer to the artificial rain was well formed on the skyward surface of the weathering steel exposed to the industrial and rural atmospheres, and its corrosion rate in the artificial rain was measured to be about a low $3{{\mu}m}/y$. Continuous immersion of all the weathered surfaces in the artificial rain revealed the gradual degradation of the weathered corrosion layers on the steel, resulting in a cathodically controlled corrosion of the substrate steel by the electrochemical measurements. Alloy components of the weathering steel were found to retard the degradation of the weathered corrosion layers on the steel in the artificial rain. For better corrosion evaluation of the weathering steel, more electrochemical measurements of surfaces that have been exposed for more than 9 years to more closely simulated atmospheric waters are needed. These measurements are almost non-destructive and can provide online and in situ information on the corrosion rate, the development of corrosion and the conditions of rust layers on any interested surface and at any exposure time of the steel, so they can be effectively applicable to the corrosion evaluation of steel structures such as bridges, towers, and architectures by forming an electrochemical cell on an interested structural surface and by using a portable electrochemical instrument.