Method
The method strictly follows the European norm EN 480-11:1998 E. The measured concrete samples must be colored and carefully prepared for the measurement. The air content in micropores is measured by a traverse method. The micro air content is the criterion of concrete quality. LUCIA system brings full automation to the traverse method and thus fastens significantly the whole measurement.
Hardware and software
Macrooptics stand or microscope, fast 3.3 MPix firewire camera, 3-axis motorized scanning stage with joystick, ringlight with controller, LUCIA Concrete software.
Measurement
First the sample is adjusted and measurement method is selected. The user is prompted to control the pores detection.
Then the measurement starts. System automatically changes the stage position and performs focusing. Pores are detected and analyzed during the measurement. Measurement can be fully automatic or semi-automatic. In semi-automatic mode the operator has to confirm the pores detection for every filed and is enabled to manually edit the pores boundaries.
The measurement is ended with a MS Word and MS Excel reports. Reports are generated according to the norm EN 480-11.
Main measured features:
- Pores distribution to classes, histogram
- Total traverse length
- Total air content
- Total number of chords measured
- Specific surface of the air
- Paste:air ratio
- Spacing factor