Paper Contents
Abstract
. Concrete is the second most used material on earth (after water), and is the most common and widely used construc-tion material in the world. However, cementitious materials in general are very brittle and characterized by a very low tensile strength and a very low strain to failure. Macroscopic steel reinforcing bars have been added to concrete since the late 1850s to provide tensile strength and ductility. Within the last few decades, researchers started testing discrete meso and micro fibers as a means to control crack growth in cementitious materials (e.g. cement paste, cement grout, concrete). The idea behind this transition to fiber reinforced cement (FRC) is that the tensile strength is developed from many individual fibers rather than a few pieces of steel. Therefore, the use of discrete fibers results in a more uniform distribution of stress within cementitious materials. Recently, exceptional types of carbon nanofilaments have raised the interest of some concrete researchers due to their remarkable mechanical, chemical, electrical, and thermal properties, and excellent performance in reinforcing polymer-based materials. Micro-fibers may delay the nucleation and growth of cracks at the micro-scale; however, nano reinforcements can further delay the nucleation and growth of cracks at the nano-scale. If cracks are successfully controlled at the nano scale, their propagation to the micro level can be prevented. These nano-filaments, both carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and carbon nanofibers (CNFs), may prove to be superior alterna-tives or compliments to traditional fibers, and promising candidates for the next-generation of high-performance and multi-functional cement-based materials and structures
Copyright
Copyright © 2024 Rahul Kumar. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
