An Investigation on Behavior of Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes as an Additive to Cement

In the present study an attempt was made to study the effect of multi wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) on cement as an additive. The multi-wall carbon nanotubes used in this study has a diameter of 30 nm. This multi walled carbon nanotubes added as additives to cement were in percentage of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2 to weight of cement. Using this modified cement; Binder pastes and mortars were prepared and tested for its various behaviors. The tests were carried for normal consistency, initial setting time, final setting time and strength developments in MWCNTs modified cements. The mortars specimens were further studied for its micro structural behavior through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The results show that multi-wall carbon nanotubes increases the strength parameters and micro structural behavior. There were no considerable changes in terms of to the high cost of multi-wall carbon nanotubes, 0.8 percentage can be the optimal percentage of additive in terms of performance and strength.