Heating and de-icing function in conductive concrete and cement paste with the hybrid addition of carbon nanotubes and graphite products

This paper aims to study the viability of conductive cement paste and conductive concrete with the hybrid addition of carbon nanotubes (CNT) and graphite powder (GP) as a self-heating material for heating, ice formation prevention and de-icing in pavements. Different heating tests, ice-preventing tests and de-icing tests were performed with cement paste and concrete specimens. Results confirm that the conductive cement composites studied, with the addition of 1% CNT + 5% GP, exhibited heating, de-icing and ice-prevention properties, when applying constant AC/DC voltages between the two end sides of each specimen, with relatively low energy consumption. The main contribution of this work is to achieve a sufficient conductivity level for the development of the heating and de-icing function using this hybrid addition in concrete, which has not been used so far, in order to be applied in real concrete structures.

Automated summary

This study investigates the viability of conductive cement composites with the hybrid addition of carbon nanotubes and graphite powder for heating, ice formation prevention and de-icing in pavements. The results show that the addition of 1% CNT + 5% GP can achieve heating, de-icing and ice-prevention properties with relatively low energy consumption, providing a promising solution for real concrete structures.