PSI - Issue 67

Gabriele Milone et al. / Procedia Structural Integrity 67 (2025) 90–106 G. Milone et al./ Structural Integrity Procedia 00 (2024) 000 – 000

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Figure 2. (a) Schematic and (b) photographic representation of sensing coatings onto mortar substrate. Final configuration of three sensors X, Y and Z along the transversal direction of the prism across the rebar axis. Identical configuration for samples #1, #2 and #3.

Selected rebars were coated with epoxy resin, varying the length of encapsulation across specimens to study the effect of confinement on corrosion spread and sensor response. The rebar sections were encapsulated symmetrically in the middle, with encapsulation extending over 4, 8, and 12 cm, as shown in Figure 3a. For partially confined rebars, a single sensing coating (sensor Y) was applied to the middle section of the beam (Figure 3b). The primary objective of this study was to assess the corrosion sensing capabilities of a smart carbon black (CB)-based coating installed at varying distances from the corrosion-affected section; specifically, at 36.3, 76.2, and 116.1 mm from the unconfined steel.

Figure 3. Visual representation of (a,c,e) mould configuration and (b,d,f) mortar prisms with partially confined rebars for samples #4, #5 and #6: (a,b) encapsulation extending 4 cm and sensor distanced 36.3 mm from unconfined steel; (c,d) encapsulation extending 8 cm and sensor distanced 76.2 mm from unconfined steel; (e,f) encapsulation extending 12 cm and sensor distanced 116.1 mm from unconfined steel.