A pressure-sensitive carbon black cement composite for traffic monitoring

Recent advances in nanotechnology have guided the development of a new generation of multifunctional construction materials. An example of this are cement-based composites, some of which can be used not just to pave roads but also to monitor them. A cement composite, integrating a carbon black (CB) filler, was used as a piezoresistive sensor to identify different cyclic compressive loadings, at temperatures ranging from 15 °C to 45 °C. The mechanical essays were performed under realistic conditions using 600 cm3 specimens and uniaxial loads typical of automobile traffic. A linear and reversible pressure-sensing performance was found with gauge factors ranging from 40 to 60. Overall, these results show that CB/cement composites can act as stress-sensitive materials for traffic monitoring.