Color Tone of Corrosion Products and Estimation of Rust Composition by Image Processing

Abstract

Appropriate maintenance and maintenance of infrastructures that has been used for a long time is required because there is the concern that safety will deteriorate due to atmospheric corrosion. However, the cost of maintenance and management is also increasing, and there is required to save labor and improve efficiency of maintenance and management. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to easily estimate the rust composition by the image processing of image of steel surface corroded by the outdoor exposure test. The outdoor exposure test was conducted in Choshi City and those conditions were open exposure and shelter exposure for 2.5 years. The compositions of those corrosion products measured by X-ray diffraction. Exposed test pieces were photographed RAW with the digital camera. Those photographs were developed and trimmed. The obtained images were converted from RGB images to La*b* and LCh images. The histograms of hue were fitted to the Gaussian function to determine the peak position and the spread of the histogram. As a result, it was indicated that the peak position shown in the histogram of hue shifted to the low-angle side due to the increase in FeFe₂O₄. In addition, it was indicated that the composition ratio of α-FeOOH, β-FeOOH, γ-FeOOH and FeFe₂O₄ can be estimated by the shape, spread and peak position of the histogram of hue. As shown in the graphical abstract, the composition ratio of the corrosion products measured by RIR method and estimated by image processing was in good agreement.