Corrosion damage to steel and steel reinforced concrete structures is a common but very serious problem to bridges and other structures in saltwater environments.  When chlorides from marine waters and/or deicing salt reach threshold levels, steel in concrete begins to corrode.  Corroding steel creates expansive forces that crack the concrete cover, enabling a more rapid ingress of corrosion fuels and an accelerated attack on the structure.  Delays in taking measures to combat the corrosion attack translate to accelerated deterioration and an increased risk to public safety.  

Over 20 years ago, Jarden Zinc Products began designing and developing the Lifejacket® Galvanic Cathodic Protection System as a robust, cost-effective, and maintenance-free solution to combat this attack on affected structures.  Since then, the Lifejacket® system has been installed in just about every coastal state in the US and every continent in the world, with over 8000 installations to date.

The patented Lifejacket® system uses zinc mesh anodes inside stay-in-place fiberglass jackets/forms, often with supplemental bulk zinc anodes in the water.  This galvanic cathodic protection (GCP) system has a 25 year design life.  In addition to stopping further corrosion damage, the system effectively rehabilitates the structure.

The Lifejacket® system is simply the right choice when considering options from a life cycle cost perspective in most cases, and is the sensible alternative to traditional repair strategies that require reapplication of materials or continued maintenance over the life of the structure. The Lifejacket® system is self-powered, smart system, which means current output will self adjust to meet changes in temperature, humidity, concrete resistivity and a number of other variable factors.

Finally, our team offers assistance in guiding the structure owner and engineer through the evaluation and specification process as well as support during and after the award of the project.  The Jarden Zinc Products Lifejacket® system has proven to be the right solution.