A Fe-C coated long-period fiber grating sensor for corrosion-induced mass loss measurement

This Letter reports a Fe-C coated long period fiber gratings sensor with a grating period of 387±0.1  μm for corrosion monitoring of low carbon steel in a 3.5 wt. % NaCl solution. An LPFG sensor was first deposited with a 0.8 μm thick layer of silver (Ag) and then electroplated with a 20 μm thick Fe-C coating. The chemical composition of the Fe-C coating was designed to include the main elements of low carbon steel. The resonant wavelength of the coated sensor was correlated with the mass loss of steel over time. Test results indicated a corrosion sensitivity of 0.0423 nm per 1% mass loss up to 80% Fe-C mass loss and 0.576 nm per 1% mass loss between 80% and 95% Fe-C mass loss. The corrosion sensitivity of such a Fe-C coated LPFG sensor was a trade-off for the service life of the sensor, both depending on thicknesses of the inner silver layer and the outer Fe-C coating.