Cement-Carbon Nanotube Composites and Their Multifunctional Behavior: A Brief Overview

The author has tried to provide a brief overview of the constituents of cement-carbon nanotube composites, their interactions and some examples of research on functional behavior of the composites. Many interactions are at the nanoscale and the functional behavior is strongly affected by such factors as the type and features of carbon nanotube, the proportion carbon nanotube in cement, the method adopted for dispersion of carbon nanotube in cement-water mixture, admixtures and others. Though MWCNT' (Multiwalled carbon nanotube) is by far the more widely used, little information is available other than the diameter and length of the MWCNT, pointing out towards the need for optimization of the MWCNT features. There is thus a huge potential for optimization of structure-property relationships in the constituents of the cement-carbon nanotube composites and interested researchers are encouraged to study the full publications cited in this paper and the references cited in each publication.

The structure and properties of carbon nanotubes are first reviewed, to indicate why this material is so unique. Next, nanoscale structure development in cement is reviewed, with the hope that further research on nanoscale interactions between carbon nanotube and cement will lead to more improvements in the functional behavior of the composite. Finally, papers dealing with chosen functional properties relevant to cement-carbon nanotube composites composite, are reviewed.