Detection of iron corrosion by terahertz time-domain spectroscopy

The iron tablets, which were exposed in salt spray with different periods, were investigated in the 0.2~2.0 THz using reflection-type terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS) in vacuum environment at room temperature. The sample signals are attenuated in comparison to the reference signals with increasing the corrosion time. The THz spectroscopy peak EP and reflectivity (R) of samples strongly depended on corrosion time t with EP ∝ t-1 and R ∝ t-1. The THz characteristics of iron sheets in salt spray indicate that reflection THz-TDS will contribute to the development of non-destructive testing of corrosion in pipelines.