Corrosion of reinforcing steel presents a major durability issue worldwide and
is the focus of much research activity. The long time periods involved in
replicating reinforcement corrosion within laboratories has resulted in a
number of accelerated test methods being developed. The basis of this
research presented in this paper was to examine the impressed current
technique often used to induce reinforcement corrosion. The suitability of the
technique to model chloride induced corrosion was investigated by examining
the electrochemical nature of the test method. Corrosion was induced in
prisms of differing characteristic strengths and cover thicknesses by applying a
current for between 3 and 17 days. The gravimetrical and theoretical mass
losses are compared and a modified expression based on Faraday’s law
relating the electrical current to the mass loss is also proposed which accounts
for the localised nature of chloride-induced corrosion. It was found that the
technique is a suitable method to simulate reinforcement corrosion
