• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.10-18
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• 2018

The primary purposes of this study are to understand a fundamental aspect of current uniformity around a reinforcing bar (rebar) in cement mortar, and to develop an accurate monitoring method in a wet-dry cycling process with the alternative current (AC) impedance method. Three cement mortar specimens with two embedded rebars were prepared in the laboratory. As a main variable, the distance between two rebars was designed to be 10, 20 and 30 mm with the same thickness of 20 mm. To simulate the corrosion of rebars in concrete structures in a marine environment, three cement mortar specimens were exposed to 15 wet-drying cycles (24-hour-immersion in seawater and 48-hour-drying in a room temperature) in the laboratory. It was observed that the potential level shifted to a noble value during corrosion potential monitoring, which is attributed to acceleration of dissolved oxygen diffusion at the drying process. AC impedance was measured in a frequency range from 100 kHz to 1 mHz on a wet-drying process. A theoretical model was proposed to explain the interface condition between the rebars and cement mortar by using the equivalent circuit consisting of a solution resistance, a charge transfer resistance and a CPE (constant phase element). It was observed that the diffusion impedance appeared in a low frequency range as corrosion of rebars progresses. At the drying stage of the wet-drying cycles, the currents line for monitoring tended to be non-uniform at the interface of rebar/mortar, being phase shift, ${\theta}$, close to $-45^{\circ}$.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.462-469
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• 2021

Tin/graphite composites are prepared as anode materials for Li-ion batteries using a dry ball-milling process. The main experimental variables in this work are the ball milling time (0-8 h) and composition ratio (tin:graphite=5:95, 15:85, and 30:70 w/w) of graphite and tin powder. For comparison, a tin/graphite composite is prepared using wet ball milling. The morphology and structure of the different tin/graphite composites are investigated using X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The electrochemical properties of the samples are also examined. The optimal dry ball milling time for the uniform mixing of graphite and tin is 6 h in a graphite-30wt.%Sn sample. The electrode prepared from the composite that is dry-ball-milled for 6 h exhibits the best cycle performance (discharge capacity after 50^th cycle: 308 mAh/g and capacity retention: 46%). The discharge capacity after the 50^th cycle is approximately 112 mAh/g, higher than that when the electrode is composed of only graphite (196 mAh/g after 50^th cycle). This result indicates that it is possible to manufacture a tin/graphite composite anode material that can effectively buffer the volume change that occurs during cycling, even using a simple dry ball-milling process.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.867-873
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• 2010

This study investigated the corrosion properties of reinforced concrete with the addition of steel fibers. The transport properties of steel fiber-reinforced concrete such as permeable void, absorption by capillary action, water permeability and chloride diffusion were first measured to evaluate the relationship with the corrosion of steel rebar. Test results showed a slight increase on the compressive strength with the addition of steel fibers as well as considerable improvement of penetration resistance to mass transport of harmful materials into concrete. The addition of steel fibers in reinforced concrete accelerated the initiation of steel corrosion contrary to the expected results based on the measured transport properties. The NaCl ponding surface showed the spalling failure due to the corrosion expansion of steel fibers and the cut-surface around the steel rebar showed the localized steel fiber's corrosion. The wet-dry cycling with high chloride ions as well as high temperature seems to induce the increase of salt crystallization on the pores continually and the increased pressure with the steel fiber's corrosion on the pores caused the spalling failure on the exposed surface. The microcracking on the surface therefore accelerated the movement of water, chloride ions and oxygen into the embedded steel rebar. The mechanism affecting corrosion of embedded steel reinforcement with steel fibers in this study are not yet fully understood and require further study comprising of accurate experimental design to isolate the effect of steel fiber's potential mechanism on the corrosion process.