Electrical and mechanical properties of asphalt concrete containing conductive fibers and fillers

Haopeng Wang*, Jun Yang, Hui Liao, Xianhua Chen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

89 Citations (Scopus)
87 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Electrically conductive asphalt concrete has the potential to satisfy multifunctional applications. Designing such asphalt concrete needs to balance the electrical and mechanical performance of asphalt concrete. The objective of this study is to design electrically conductive asphalt concrete without compromising on the mechanical properties of asphalt concrete. In order to achieve this goal, various tests have been conducted to investigate the effects of electrically conductive additives (steel fiber and graphite) on the laboratory-measured electrical and mechanical properties of asphalt concrete. The results from this study indicate that the critical embedded steel fiber length is 9.6 mm to maximize the fiber's potential to bridge across the crack from single fiber tensile test. Both steel fiber and graphite can produce conductive asphalt concrete with sufficiently low resistivity, but steel fiber is much more effective than graphite to improve the conductivity of asphalt concrete. A combination of steel fiber and graphite can precisely control the resistivity of asphalt concrete over a wider range. Besides, asphalt concrete containing an optimized amount of steel fibers has a significant improvement in Marshall Stability, rutting resistance, indirect tensile strength, and low temperature cracking resistance compared to the plain concrete. The addition of graphite could increase the permanent deformation resistance with compromised stability and low temperature performance. Asphalt concrete containing steel fibers and graphite weakens the steel fiber reinforcing and toughening effect, but still has a significant improvement in mechanical performance compared to the plain concrete.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)184-190
Number of pages7
JournalConstruction and Building Materials
Volume122
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Sept 2016

Keywords

  • Asphalt concrete
  • Electrical conductivity
  • Fiber
  • Graphite
  • Mechanical properties

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