Deposition of Different Metallic Coatings as Repair Materials for Concrete by Using a Twin-Wire Arc Thermal Spray Process

Using a concrete surface, the ingress of aggressive ions and the initiation of the corrosion reaction of an embedded steel rebar were studied. To reduce the corrosion reaction of the embedded steel rebar, either a coating on the steel rebar or a repair material was used on the concrete surface. Therefore, in the present study, 200 µm thick Cu, Ti, and 85Zn-15Al were used as repair materials, and their coatings were deposited on the concrete surface using a twin-wire arc thermal spray process. Different experiments such as bond adhesion, water permeability, immersion in a 5 wt.% NaCl solution, and accelerated carbonation were performed to assess the durability of the coatings, and the characterization of the coatings was performed by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The Cu and 85Zn-15Al coatings exhibited severe defects and porosity; therefore, these coatings exhibited very low bond adhesion, whereas the Ti coating showed a dense and compact morphology, and its bond adhesion value was 11 times greater than that of the Cu coating. The NaCl immersion results can be used to determine the extent of the deterioration of different coatings in coastal areas; based on these results, the Cu coating exhibited delamination, while 85Zn-15Al showed white rust deposition. By contrast, there was no detrimental effect of NaCl immersion on the Ti coating during the 28 days under study, and the coating exhibited characteristics identical to those observed after deposition. The Ti coating reduced the carbonation depth by 1.5–2 times that of the Cu and 85Zn-15Al coatings after four and eight weeks of exposure. The present study suggests that Ti can be the potential metal used as a repair material for concrete to enhance the durability of buildings and infrastructure.