Prestressed concrete cylinder pipe (PCCP) is used in water and waste water systems that serve virtually every major city in North America. Although not required in most conditions, various methods are available to effectively provide corrosicm resistance. Recommendations for corrosion control in various environments are provided by several associations, manufacturers, and corrosion engineering firms. They include supplemental coatings, latex addition to mortar, and cathodic protection. The data, results, and reasoning to support the recommendations are often not available in the literature, This paper provides a sumlmary of research performed during the past decade on mortar coating and prestressing wire. It includes information on reduction of chloride penetration by mortar mix design and addition of latex, chloride diffusion through the mortar coating, chloride content required to cause corrosion of the prestressing wire, inhibition of corrosion by lubricants present on prest~essing wire, practicality of using organically-coated prestressing wire, corrosion prevention properties of steel in mortar subjected to stray current, usefulness of potential monitoring techniques, supplemental protection using barrier coatings,
cathodic protection requirements, and hydrogen embrittlement concerns.
Kevwords: Absorption, cathodic protection. chloride penetration, coated mortar, coated prestressing wire, concrete pressure pipe, corrosion threshold, hydrogen embrittlement, inhibitors, latex, lubricants, monitoring, mortar, PCCP, prestressing wire, stray current, styrene butadiene latex