Pressure Stimulated Current emissions on cement paste samples under repetitive stepwise compressional loadings

The electric signals detection technique that is described here has been applied on several geomaterials in the past and on cement based materials lately. In this work cement paste samples were studied regarding electric signal emissions during axial stress application processes and specifically when subjected to repetitive loadings and unloadings in the in the range where crack opening and propagation processes are established. It was observed that the electric signal was emitted at two stages. Initially, current was emitted concurrently to the stress step and had a form of a spike and consequently gradually returned to its background level and a secondary current emission was recorded while the stress was maintained constant at the high level of each stress step.