Study on deterioration of mechanical properties and voltage-strength theoretical model of CFRP/ conductive ECC composites under coupling effect of anode polarization, load and erosion environment

This study aims to systematically investigate the deterioration of tensile properties, voltage variation, and voltage-strength theoretical model of CFRP/ conductive ECC composites under coupling effect of anode polarization, load and erosion environment. The effects of testing parameters including conductive ECC mixture type, electric current density, polarization time, tensile stress value, sulfate soak time, and sulfate attack-wet and dry cycle time were synthetically investigated. The experimental results indicated that the voltage increases approximately linearly with the increase of degradation time in the voltage-deterioration time curves. The stress-strain curve can be divided into three stages: the stress-strain linear increase stage, the strain hardening characteristic stage, and the decline stage during failure. The conductive ECC mixture type, polarization time, current density, tensile stress value, sulfate soak time, and sulfate attack-wet and dry cycle time all have significant effects the deterioration of tensile strength and the voltage change ratio of CFRP/ conductive ECC composite. More importantly, an innovative voltage-strength theoretical model was proposed, which can predict the relationship between voltage and material deterioration strength. The theoretical model is in good agreement not only with the experimental results of this study, but also with the results of other studies. The model proposed can be used to predict deterioration degree of materials in real time, which has very important guiding significance for impressed current cathodic protection-structural strengthening technology (ICCP-SS) technology. This study is expected to promote a more comprehensive understanding of the deterioration of mechanical properties and voltage-strength theoretical model of CFRP/conductive ECC composites for ICCP-SS technology. •An innovative voltage-strength theoretical model was proposed, which can predict the relationship between voltage and material deterioration strength.•The deterioration of mechanical properties of CFRP/ conductive ECC composites under coupling effect of anode polarization, load and erosion environment are systematically explored in experimental testing.•Conductive ECC mixture type, polarization time, current density, tensile stress value, sulfate soak time, and sulfate attack-wet and dry cycle time have significant effects the tensile deterioration strength and voltage change ratio of CFRP/ conductive ECC composite.