2025/01/01 by Jie Fan, Sijie Deng, Gengying Li +2 · 1 voice
Environmental Science · Engineering · #Smart Materials for Construction #Concrete and Cement Materials Research #Innovative concrete reinforcement materials
paper · doi:10.1515/ntrev-2025-0256
openalex publication_date 2025/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/12/11 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
Abstract This paper proposes polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as an additive to improve the mechanical and self-sensing properties of nano carbon black (NCB)-cement mortar. X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy were used to reveal the chemical interaction between NCB and PVA. Furthermore, the effects of PVA on the mechanical performance, self-sensing behavior, and microstructure of NCB-cement mortar were systematically investigated. The results demonstrate that PVA enhances the dispersion uniformity of NCB, and the formation of an NCB/PVA “grape-bunch” structure (a three-dimensional network with NCB particles distributed along the PVA film) is key to achieving the cooperative improvement effect. The incorporation of 0.6 wt% PVA and 0.5 wt% NCB increased the compressive and flexural strengths by 24 % and 25 %, respectively, compared to the sample with NCB alone. In addition, the mortar sensor with combined PVA and NCB exhibited higher stress sensitivity under cyclic loading. Cost-benefit analyses indicate that the use of NCB/PVA as a composite modifier to develop cement mortar sensors is an economic and effective option.