Activation energy and conduction in carbon fibre reinforced cement matrices

Excerpt

Cement-based materials form an important group of structural materials; however, the ability of such materials to serve both structural and non-structural functions could further enhance their range of application. The capacity to simultaneously provide both structural and non-structural applications is defined as multifunctional and the addition of fibres to cement matrices is one such area which could give cement-based materials multifunctional capabilities. On the structural side, it is known that fibre additions offer a convenient and practical means of achieving improvements in many of the mechanical properties of plain concrete such as enhanced toughness, fatigue resistance, impact resistance, tensile strength, flexural strength, reduced creep and shrinkage and improvements in the post-cracking behaviour. However, the addition of small amounts of electrically conductive fibres to cement, such as carbon fibre, will make the material electrically conductive which could open up a wide range of non-structural applications; for example, in electrical grounding and static charge dissipation, electromagnetic interference shielding, self-sensing (with respect to deformation and damage), piezo-resistivity, electric current rectification (using a cement-based pn-junction), radio wave reflection, electrical-resistance heating and overlays for cathodic protection [see, for example, 1‐13]. …