Investigating the influence of multi-walled carbon nanotubes on the mechanical and damping properties of ultra-high performance concrete

Abstract

In this paper, the effects of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on the mechanical and damping properties of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) were investigated. The results show that the proper amount of MWCNTs can improve mechanical properties as well as the damping properties. For the mechanical properties, the compressive strength and flexural strength of the specimens increased with the increase of MWCNTs content in the range of 0~0.05% (mass ratio to cement). However, when the content of MWCNTs was more than 0.05wt.%, the mechanical properties of UHPC could not be improved continually because too many MWCNTs were difficult to disperse and agglomerated easily in UHPC. Similar laws also have been found for the damping property of UHPC. The loss factor of UHPC increased with the increase of MWCNTs content in the range of 0 ~ 0.05%. The incorporation of MWCNTs would introduce a large number of interfaces into UHPC, the friction and slip between interfaces were the main reasons for the improvement of the damping property of UHPC. However, when the content of MWCNTs was more than 0.05%, it was difficult to disperse effectively. As a result, the overall energy consumption efficiency of MWCNTs was decreased.

Keywords

• uhpc
• carbon nanotubes
• damping property