Abstract
Excellent mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and nanofibers (CNFs) have motivated the development of advanced nanocomposites with outstanding and multifunctional properties. After achieving a considerable success in utilizing these unique materials in various polymeric matrices, recently tremendous interest is also being noticed on developing CNT and CNF reinforced cement-based composites. However, the problems related to nanomaterial dispersion also exist in case of cementitious composites, impairing successful transfer of nanomaterials' properties into the composites. Performance of cementitious composites also depends on their microstructure which is again strongly influenced by the presence of nanomaterials. In this context, the present paper reports a critical review of recent literature on the various strategies for dispersing CNTs and CNFs within cementitious matrices and the microstructure and mechanical properties of resulting nanocomposites.
Highlights
Civil infrastructures are the building blocks of any country’s highway structures, bridges, pavements, runways for airport, and so forth, and concrete is the primary material for their construction
The photocatalytic characteristic of TiO2 helped to remove the organic pollutants from concrete surfaces, which were directly exposed to UV radiation [11]
After the discovery of buckyball in 1985 by Kroto et al [23], a tubular form of carbon was reported by Iijima [24] in 1991 and named carbon nanotubes (CNTs)
Summary
Civil infrastructures are the building blocks of any country’s highway structures, bridges, pavements, runways for airport, and so forth, and concrete is the primary material for their construction. The use of microfiber reinforcements has led to significant improvement in the mechanical properties of cement-based materials by delaying the transformation of microcracks into macroforms, but they could not stop the crack growth This fact encouraged the use of nanosize fibers or particles for concrete reinforcement in order to prevent the transformation of nanocracks into microcracks [2, 3]. Extensive research endeavors over the last few years demonstrated the application potential of various carbon nanomaterials, mainly carbon nanofiber (CNF) and carbon nanotube (CNT), in polymeric matrices This fact has motivated the scientists and researchers worldwide to use these nanomaterials in concrete as well, in order to utilize their extraordinary mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties [12, 13]. There exists a large difference in the structure and chemistry between a polymeric and a cementitious, matrix, and, a great deal of research activities is being directed towards understanding the interaction between these nanomaterials and cementitious matrices for their successful application
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