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Transport Properties of Carbon-Nanotube/Cement Composites

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Abstract

This paper preliminarily investigates the general transport properties (i.e., water sorptivity, water permeability, and gas permeability) of carbon-nanotube/cement composites. Carboxyl multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) are dispersed into cement mortar to fabricate the carbon nanotubes (CNTs) reinforced cement-based composites by applying ultrasonic energy in combination with the use of surfactants (sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate and sodium dodecyl sulfate). Experimental results indicate that even at a very small dosage the addition of MWNTs can help decrease water sorptivity coefficient, water permeability coefficient, and gas permeability coefficient of cement mortar, which suggests that CNTs can effectively improve the durability properties of cement-based composites.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the funding support from the Northland Advanced Transportation Systems Research Laboratory (NATSRL) of the University of Minnesota Duluth, ITS of the University of Minnesota, and US National Science Foundation (CMMI-0856477). This work is also partially supported by the National Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 50808055, 51178148), the Natural Scientific Research Innovation Foundation in Harbin Institute of Technology (grant No. HIT. NSRIF. 2009096), and the Research and Innovative Technology Administration under the USDOT.

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Correspondence to Xun Yu.

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Baoguo Han and Zhengxian Yang have equal contribution to the paper.

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Han, B., Yang, Z., Shi, X. et al. Transport Properties of Carbon-Nanotube/Cement Composites. J. of Materi Eng and Perform 22, 184–189 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-012-0228-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11665-012-0228-x

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