The Low Level Measurements Group has introduced in 2000 the Pressure Stimulated Currents Experimental Technique. It was developed in the activity frame of prototyping non-destructive methods through a series of innovative techniques based on the recording, processing and study of electrical signals detected to material found under mechanical stress. Different kinds of experiments are conducted when a a bending or pressure loading is allied to the specimens under investigation. These experimental techniques have been introduced and presented to scientific journals and related bibliography and can be identified by the term used: “Pressure Stimulated Currents (PSC)”. Special emphasis is given to the detection of electrical current when the specimens under pressure reach the vicinity of fracture.
PSC technique have been applied to a number of geo-materials like marble and amphibolite as well as to specimens made of cement-based materials.
The electrical recordings are analyzed and processed using mathematical tools for signal processing under the view of complex dynamic systems and non-extensive statistical physics. This is done in order to describe the physical mechanisms and interactions during the process that precedes fracture. Following this approach, the deformation of the material and the generation of micro and macro cracks mechanisms are pointed out. This may have a potential use to medium or to large scale health monitoring applications.
One of the goals of the previous mentioned research in the exploitation of the PSC technique as practical tool for assessing the mechanical status of the material and the introduction of a non-destructive technique (NDT) which will check the health status of the specimens.