PIXE data analysis by two-dimensional correlation mapping techniques: Analysis of chloride and sulfate ions attack in homemade mortar samples

Chloride and sulfate ions ingress behaviors in concrete are more complex and complicated processes than can be described by Fick's law of diffusion. A new approach based on two-dimensional correlation mapping (2D-CM) and particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE) spectra was successfully applied to describe their transportation process. The use of hybrid 2D correlation enabled a fast comparison of ions ingress, whereas multiple perturbation correlation spectroscopy enabled the study of compositional factor affecting the ingress process. It was shown that by rearranging the same data in different ways, different techniques of 2D-CM could be applied and new information could be derived. The 2D-CM findings were in line with the classical PIXE analysis and consistent with the underlying physics of the experiments, which suggested that it will be a powerful and fast data analysis tool for PIXE spectra.