This product may provide "long-term electrochemical protection" against the deterioration of the steel rebar in the concrete, the article states. When this "pressure-sensitive" zinc-hydrogel solution is applied an "iconic current" is conducted. Wires run through the rebar grid once the concrete is covered thoroughly with the adhesive gel. The bottom line here is the zinc slowly corrodes rather than the rebar. Ironically, the 3M companies developed this zinc hydrogel anode in Minneapolis in the year 2,000 -- seven years before I-35 crashed into a river in Minneapolis.

A study conducted by Korean civil engineers Hyo-Gyoung Kwak and Young-Jae Seo puts forward, in short, another methodology in terms of predicting the life expectancy of a concrete bridge. The authors suggest the behaviors of "pre-stressed concrete" (PCS) girders can be predicted fairly accurately. This is because the PCS girders are constructed by placing in-situ concrete decks on the girders "at time intervals."...
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