Nondestructive Measurement of the Water Content in Building Materials by Single-Sided NMR-MOUSE

Water has a significant impact on the properties of building materials. A nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer can be used to detect water in materials and measure its distribution nondestructively, rapidly, and accurately. In this paper, a novel method is introduced for using single-sided NMR to measure the water content (WC) of building materials, including brick, sandstone, mortar, and concrete. The NMR signal intensity and water content of these building materials were measured using a single-sided NMR-MOUSE PM25 and a high-precision electronic scale, respectively. A total of 80 groups of NMR signal intensity and water content data were obtained in two different measurement environments. The NMR signal intensity and water content data for each of the four building materials were fitted by the least squares method. The similarity of the coefficients of the determined correlations demonstrated that these relations are universal for building materials and independent of the NMR signal intensity and water content measurement environments.

Automated summary

This paper introduces a novel method for using single-sided NMR to measure the water content of building materials. The NMR signal intensity and water content of brick, sandstone, mortar, and concrete were measured using a single-sided NMR-MOUSE PM25 and a high-precision electronic scale. The NMR signal intensity and water content data for each material were fitted using the least squares method, and the results showed that these relations are universal for building materials and independent of the measurement environments.