Conductive concrete, nanoadditions and functional applications

Abstract

The addition of a carbon material, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) or graphite powder (GP)as conductive ingredients transforms the resulting mixture into a conductive material. This yields the possibility of using the new material for other functions different to the structural one, so that it can be considered a multifunctional material, such as the sensing and heating function. Increasing CNTs or/and GP content decreases the resistivity. Once the percolation threshold is reached it makes no sense to increase % because the resistivity is not anymore significantly changed. Then strain-sensing and heating functions can be can be carried in these conductive cement based materials.