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ISNPINSA-7 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1025 (2018)
1234567890 ‘’“” 012010 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1025/1/012010

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for rapid detection of

corrosiveness in concrete

Nurul Hikmantiyah1,3,Trisna Maulana Shidiq2,3,,and Ali Khumaeni3*)

1
Magister Program of Physics, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and
Mathematics, Diponegoro University
2
Undergraduate Program of Physics, Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and
Mathematics, Diponegoro University
3
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science and Mathematics, Diponegoro University
Jl. Prof. Soedharto, SH, Tembalang, Semarang 50275, Indonesia

*) Corresponding author : khumaeni@fisika.undip.ac.id

Abstract. Identification of corrosiveness in concrete is necessary for evaluation of building

strength. In this study, identification of reinforced concrete corrosion has been successfully
conducted using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) method by identification of sodium
element as a fingerprint in the sample. Low-power neodymium yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG)
laser was used ( 1064 nm, 34mJ, 7ns) as an energy source. The laser beam was focused on concrete
sample surface which contains different concentration of sodium-chloride (0.1 % - 1%). The
experiment was carried out under atmospheric pressure. The sodium emission line at Na I 589.59 nm
was successfully detected. Nice linear calibration curve of sodium line in concrete containing different
concentration of sodium chloride (NaCl) was made. The linear curve certified that sodium line can be
used as a fingerprint for evaluation of concrete strength.

1. Introduction
Reinforced concrete takes important rule as the basic component of modern infrastructure
development, such as for construction of buildings, bridges, highways and so on [1,2]. Thus
identification of concrete corrosion is very important because concrete corrosion can cause cracks in
concrete that under certain conditions can cause the collapse of buildings and endanger human life.
This also will impact on fund requirement for infrastructure repairmen [3].
In marine environment, the concrete age relatively decreases due to direct contact with high
concentration of sodium-chloride in the sea water [4]. The corrosion caused by the penetration of
sodium-chloride through the concrete cracks slowly reduced its strength. If this continues for a long
time, the concrete will be eventually broken [5-7]. Considering the reasons, the detection of corrosion
of concrete becomes an important concern.
There are some methods to detect the concrete corrosion, such as surface potential (SS) technique,
embedded corrosion instrument (ECI) [8], optical fiber sensor [9], and Ultrasonic Tomography (UT)
[10]. But those methods have disadvantages, naley, the tools have to be placed directly to concrete, so
the installation and equipments are relatively complex. Some cannot use small amount and thin
samples, and some of them are relatively expensive. Another simpler way to detect corrosion of

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1025 (2018)
1234567890 ‘’“” 012010 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1025/1/012010

concrete is by identifying the content of elements that present in the concrete. The methods that can be
used are X-ray fluorescence (XRF) [11] and inductively coupled plasma emission spectroscopy (ICP–
ES) [12]. However, those methods are not really practical because they need complicated sample
preparation, thus it takes more time to complete the analysis.
On the other hand, laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) provides a solution to the
shortcomings. LIBS is a method that using pulse laser to evaporate and excite a small mass of sample
surface, it creates plasma that contains special emission for each component in sample [13, 14]. This
method requires very simple even no sample preparation, can be use for any kind of material under
any atmosphere pressure, and provides rapid material analysis [14,15]. It also can be use for any kind
of material including metal [16] and non-metal [15, 17].
In this study, the identification of concrete corrosion using LIBS methods will be conducted. The
concrete spectra containing sodium will be showed. The measurement of plasma stability and
calibration curve will be carried out to show our equipment stability.

2. Method
In this study, a pulse Nd:YAG laser (New Wave Research, Polaris II 20 Hz) with 1064 nm in
wavelength was used as an energy source. The laser beam was reflected to the silver mirror then
focused by convex lens to the sample that located inside the camber. A luminous plasma was produced
when the laser beam impinged the sample surface. The induced-plasma emission was detected by an
optical multichannel analyzer (OMA) with the aid of optical fiber that connected OMA
(LamdaVission SA-100W-HPCB1024/C type). The experimental set-up used in this study was shown
in Fig. 1.
The laser beam energy, repetition rate and pulse width were 34 mJ, 10 Hz, and 7 ns, respectively.
This study was conducted under atmospheric pressure. The samples used in this study were concrete
cement with addition of sodium-chloride. There are eight samples used in this study, each sample
contains different concentration of sodium from natrium-chloride (NaCl) of 0.1%, 0.25%, 0.5 %,
0.75%, 1 %.

Sample chamber Lens

Mirror

Sample

Fiber Optic
Nd:YAG
Laser

Pump
OMA

Computer
Figure 1.experimental set-up

3. Results and discussion

In this experiment, a laser pulse with a narrow pulse width (7 ns) was used. The laser peak power
is very high. The laser beam was focused by a convex lens which increases the peak power of the laser
beam. When the laser beam hits the sample surface, a small amount of the sample will evaporate. Due
to high peak power of laser, the evaporated sample then undergoes atomization into its constituent

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ISNPINSA-7 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1025 (2018)
1234567890 ‘’“” 012010 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1025/1/012010

materials due to high energy, and finally the sample also undergoes ionization and excitation. As the
nature of the atom, after the ionization process, the atoms are undergo de-excitation by releasing their
energy in the form of electromagnetic waves radiation at a certain wavelength. The resulting emitting
light is called laser plasma. The color of the produced plasma that was produced depends on the type
of the constituent elements. The emission of the plasma was then detected by OMA system, and the
intensity and wavelength of the sample elements were obtained. The wavelength of each peak (the
element with relatively high intensity) obtained ware then matched with the NIST standard reference
data to determine the name of the elements.
Figures 2(a) shows the emission spectrum of concrete sample with (red line) and without (blue)
addition of NaCl. From that spectrum, we can clearly see the spectrum lines of Ca and Na in the case
of concrete containing sodium (red line). However, it should be noticed that completely no Na line (Na
I 589.59 nm) appears in the concrete without sodium line. Calcium was emitted from the concrete
material, which contains Ca as major element. The higher peak is ionic Ca lines at wavelengths of
393.37 nm and 396.85 nm, while the neutral sodium line is at 589.59 nm wavelength. The result
confirmed that the present method can be employed to detection of Na in concrete for evaluation of
concrete from the corrosiveness.
Figure 2(b) shows the emission spectrum obtained from the concrete sample with addition of
sodium at certain concentration. The red line shows the concrete sample with the highest sodium
intensity (1% sodium), while the blue line shows concrete spectrum with the lowest sodium intensity
(0.1% sodium). It was confirmed that the higher concentration of sodium, the higher emission
intensity of sodium as displayed in Fig. 2(b).

25000 no sodium addition with sodium addition 25000 sodium 0.1% sodium 1%
Ca II 396. 85 nm
Ca II 393. 37 nm
20000 Ca I 373.9 nm 20000
Intensity (arb.units)
Intensity (arb.units)

Ca I 422.67 nm
Ca II 318.13 nm
15000 15000
Ca I 559.45nm Na I 589.59 nm

Na I 589.59 nm
Fe I 526.73 nm
10000 10000

5000 5000

0
0
200 300 400 500 600 700 800
200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Wavelength (nm) Wavelength (nm)
(a) (b)
Figure 2. (a) concrete spectrum with and without addition of sodium , (b) concrete spectrum with
addition of 0.1 % and 1 % sodium.

On the other hand, sodium is one of the causes of the corrosiveness in concrete, and it can be seen
using LIBS. Therefore, LIBS can be used to detect the corrosiveness in concrete. Those spectra above
also show that LIBS can detect atomic and ionic line of the components. Besides, we conducted the
measurement of plasma stability by calculating the ratio intensity of Na and Ca for several shots. Ratio
intensities of Ca and Na for several shots are 0.332, 0.332, 0.337, 0.353 and 0.336, respectively. The
plasma stability curve is shown in figure 3 (a).

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ISNPINSA-7 IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1025 (2018)
1234567890 ‘’“” 012010 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1025/1/012010

25000 0.4 7000

0.35
6000
20000

Intensity (arb.units)
Intensity (arb. units)

0.3 R² = 0.9984
5000
0.25

Na I/ Ca II
15000 Ca II
4000
Na I 0.2
Na I / Ca II 3000
10000 0.15
2000
0.1
5000
1000
0.05
0
0 0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2
0 10 20
Number30of shoot40 50 60
Sodium Concentration (%)
(a) (b)
Figure 3(a) plasma stability curve, (b) calibration curve

This indicates that LIBS can capture the intensity in several number of shots with relatively the
same ratio intensity of Ca and Na, which confirm that the plasma has good stability and it has a
potential for quantitative analysis. Thus, it has high possibility to conduct quantitative analysis of
concrete corrosion in concrete by means of sodium detection in concrete. A typical calibration curve
for concrete sample containing various concentrations of sodium is shown in figure 3(b). The curve
shows the relation between sodium concentration and intensity of sodium detected at 589.59 nm. The
intensity of sodium detected and concentration of sodium in sample shows a linier characteristic, with
least square fit R2 = 0.9984.

4. Conclusion
Corrosion detection by identifying sodium content in concrete using LIBS methods has been
successfully performed. LIBS methods can be used for analysis with simple or even no sample
preparation, requires relatively cheap equipment, and provides rapid sample analysis. By using the
LIBS method, the calcium and sodium spectrum lines in concrete can be clearly identified. Concrete
sample with 1% sodium content shows the highest sodium intensity, while concrete sample of 0.1
sodium addition shows lowest sodium intensity. To see the methods stability, we carried out the
calculation of plasma stability curve. It shows that LIBS can detect plasma with relatively same
intensity, therefore the plasma emission is quite stable, so it might be possible to use to detect the
corrosiveness of reinforced concrete.

Acknowledgment
Present study includes the results of the project financially supported by Diponegoro University under
the project of Research for International Publication (RPI, No.: 831.1-02/UN7.P4.3/PP/2017). And
also thanks to Chusnus Shalichah, Gali Kurniawan, Oki Dimas Prasetya, Fathkiya, Wisnu, Nurul
Istiqomah, Beny and all those who assist in the completion of this study.

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IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1025 (2018)
1234567890 ‘’“” 012010 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1025/1/012010

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