ABSTRACT
Reinforcement based on stainless steel has been on the market already since the early 1930s, and as previously discussed for the Progreso Pier on the Yocatán Coast in Mexico (Chapter 2), the additional costs of stainless steel in this pier later on proved to be an extremely good investment for the owner. For this pier, which was constructed between 1937 and 1941, a stainless steel of grade AISI 304 (W.1.4301) was applied (Knudsen and Skovsgaard, 1999). Traditionally, however, the additional costs of such reinforcement have been so high that it has normally not been considered viable for ordinary concrete structures. During recent years, however, new experience has shown that a more selective use of stainless steel reinforcement can be very attractive for enhancing durability and service life (Knudsen et al., 1998; Materen and Paulsson-Tralla, 2001; Knudsen and Goltermann, 2004). For many years, a galvanic coupling between reinforcing bars based on stainless steel and carbon steel was believed to represent
a potential corrosion risk. Both extensive experimental investigations and practical experience have shown, however, that a partial use of stainless steel in coupling with carbon steel in concrete does not increase the risk of corrosion (Bertolini et al., 2004). As a consequence, a partial replacement of the carbon steel with stainless steel in the outer parts of the structure or in the most critical and vulnerable parts of the structure has shown to be a very good technical and cost-effective solution.
