Issue 3, 2020, Issue in Progress

Microcapsule encapsulated with leuco dye as a visual sensor for concrete damage indication via color variation

Abstract

A microcapsule-type visualization sensor for concrete structural damage indication is proposed in this article. Crystal violet lactone, as damage indicator, was microencapsulated within poly(methyl methacrylate) to synthesize the sensor. The successful encapsulation was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry. Microcapsules of different diameters and size distributions were obtained by varied stirring speeds. The fabricated microcapsules were embedded into a polymer coating to accomplish the damage indication. When cracks propagated in the coating, the crystal violet lactone in leuco form was released from the ruptured microcapsules. Due to reacting with silicon dioxide in concrete, the released crystal violet lactone turned blue and highlighted the damaged area. It was verified that the visualization performance of the sensor showed good durability in both dry and wet conditions. The proposed microcapsule-type visualization sensor has advantages of easy fabrication, high indication stability, and no special equipment requirements, which will reduce the complexity of concrete structural health monitoring significantly.

Graphical abstract: Microcapsule encapsulated with leuco dye as a visual sensor for concrete damage indication via color variation

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
14 Nov 2019
Accepted
23 Dec 2019
First published
08 Jan 2020
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2020,10, 1226-1231

Microcapsule encapsulated with leuco dye as a visual sensor for concrete damage indication via color variation

Y. Li, Q. Wang, X. Zheng, Y. Li and J. Luan, RSC Adv., 2020, 10, 1226 DOI: 10.1039/C9RA09492J

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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