A study on the electrical and physical properties of mortar incorporating carbon black

Abstract

In this study, carbon black was used to manufacture electrical conductive mortar, and the carbon black and mixing water were controlled. In carbon black, secondary particles were formed with primary particles sized 100 ~ 300 nm and the electrical conductivity was measured at 19.2S/m. Mixing water content had to be increased according to the increase of carbon black content to maintain uniform flow (190 ± 5 mm) of the carbon black-incorporated mortar and the mortar strength gradually decreased with the increase of water content. For OPC mortar, electric current was measured as 0.0024A, and a heating phenomenon was not observed. On the other hand, the electric current of mortar mixed with 10% of carbon black was 0.0855A, the highest among the specimens, and the electric resistance was 163Ω∙m, which was also the highest exothermic characteristic. However, when 10wt% of carbon black was used, the mortar properties deteriorated, and thus, countermeasures for this should be further studied.