Actually epoxy coated rebar has pretty major debonding issues in practice. If the epoxy coating was continuous then sure, but realistically during bending, cutting, tying, etc you're basically guaranteed to introduce scratches through that thin epoxy layer and once that steel starts rusting it'll tend to spread under the surface causing more cracks in the epoxy and allowing more corrosion.
>Adhesion loss of the epoxy coating to the steel surface was detected in all but one deck
that was 4 years old and older. The epoxy coatings were debonding from the reinforcing bars.
Whereas a bonded coating can be expected to protect the steel, a debonded coating allows
chlorides, moisture, and oxygen to reach the steel and initiate a rapid corrosion mechanism.
Reinforcing bars in various stages of adhesion loss showed visible signs of a corrosion process
underneath the coating, suggesting that ECR will provide little or no additional service life for
concrete bridge decks in comparison to bare steel. Other systems that will provide longer
protection against chloride-induced corrosion of the reinforcing steel with a higher degree of
reliability should be considered.
Actually epoxy coated rebar has pretty major debonding issues in practice. If the epoxy coating was continuous then sure, but realistically during bending, cutting, tying, etc you're basically guaranteed to introduce scratches through that thin epoxy layer and once that steel starts rusting it'll tend to spread under the surface causing more cracks in the epoxy and allowing more corrosion.
The abstract of this report shows that epoxy coated rebar performs rather poorly. http://www.virginiadot.org/vtrc/main/online_reports/pdf/00-r...
>Adhesion loss of the epoxy coating to the steel surface was detected in all but one deck that was 4 years old and older. The epoxy coatings were debonding from the reinforcing bars. Whereas a bonded coating can be expected to protect the steel, a debonded coating allows chlorides, moisture, and oxygen to reach the steel and initiate a rapid corrosion mechanism. Reinforcing bars in various stages of adhesion loss showed visible signs of a corrosion process underneath the coating, suggesting that ECR will provide little or no additional service life for concrete bridge decks in comparison to bare steel. Other systems that will provide longer protection against chloride-induced corrosion of the reinforcing steel with a higher degree of reliability should be considered.