To Improve the Strength of Concrete by Using Carbon Nanotubes (CNTs)

Abstract

Abstract: The use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in concrete has been gaining attention due to their unique properties, such as high strength, flexibility, and electrical conductivity. This study focuses on investigating the effect of adding CNTs to concrete mixtures on the strength of the resulting material. The concrete specimens were prepared with different percentages of CNTs, and their mechanical properties were measured and compared to those of control specimens without CNTs. The results showed that the addition of CNTs significantly improved the compressive and flexural strength of the concrete. The findings suggest that the incorporation of CNTs in concrete mixtures could be an effective way to enhance the mechanical properties of concrete and improve its performance in construction applications. Compared to the plain cement sample at 28 days. The highest increase in strength at 28 days for the 0.0045 wt.% MWCNTs and the 0.0030 wt.% MWCNTs was 43.4% and 37.79% respectively. It is concluded that nano composites with low concentration of long MWCNTs give comparable mechanical performance to the nano composites with higher concentration of short MWCNTs. Many of the MWCNIs were stretching across the micro-cracks showing CNT's breakage and pull-out. In addition to the compression test we had calculated the split tensile strength by adding the multi-walled carbon nano tubes by increasing the proportion as per the percentage. For 0.0015% MWCNT's, 0.0030% and 0.0045% the percentage of strength increased by 25.6%, 44.63% and 51.21% respectively.