Development of Wireless and Passive Corrosion Sensors for Material Degradation Monitoring in Coastal Zones and Immersed Environment

Abstract

Wireless and fully energetically passive corrosion sensors inspired from the chipless Radio-Frequency IDentification (RFID) technology are presented for the monitoring of degradation of infrastructures located in coastal zones and underwater environments. The device consists of a reader and a remote passive sensor. This study presents two radio-frequency (RF) corrosion-sensitive resonators that can be integrated in such a device. The first is sensitive to a loss of metal due to its degradation, and the second is sensitive to the corrosion potential of metals, with respect to a reference electrode. The RF characterization of these two resonators demonstrates unambiguously the sensitivity of the method to corrosion of metal, passivation of steel as well as degradation of organic coatings. Then, their integration in a demonstrator including antennas is considered. The main parameters that influence the RF wave propagation and thus the reading distance are discussed. Following the presented results, the proposed method is considered as a reliable and versatile tool which should be able to be deployed in immersed, tidal, and splash zones, for example, for offshore facilities monitoring.