New Trends in Civil Engineering (2018)

Carbon Nanotubes

Do you know what's trending in civil engineering?
Do you have any idea about how much Carbon Nanotubes/Nanotechnology can make an impact in construction? Here you will get to know about the latest technology that has arrived in civil engineering.

INTRODUCTION

In the year 1991, the concept of carbon nanotubes was synthesized.
A procedure that is followed to synthesize CNTs-

• Chemical vapour deposition(CVD).
• arc discharge methodology(ARC)

Since then engineers and scientist are working hard to improve its function and quality so that it can play an important role in civil engineering.
Because of unique properties with a wide range of potential commercial application, CARBON NANO TUBES are gaining lots of popularity.
We all know that plain concrete have low tensile strength and is vulnerable to uncontrolled propagation of cracks:to overcome this problem a concept of additional material at nanometer scale has been introduced.

 A very small amount of carbon nano tubes in cement paste,concrete and mortar can make a huge difference.
MAY BE IN NEAR FUTURE, IT CAN CHANGE THE TRADITIONAL CONCEPT ABOUT CIVIL ENGINEERING.

DEFINITION OF CARBON NANO TUBES

Theoretically,carbon nanotubes are microscopic molecules which consists of single layer of atom in combined hexagonal structure.

WELL IT MIGHT SOUND DIFFICULT TO DIGEST.

In simple words, carbon nanotubes are very very small molecules that share a very strong bond in between them.
Diameter of CNTs can vary from 0.7 nano meter to 50 nano meter.
where 1nano meter = 1 billionth of a meter
NOW YOU CAN UNDERSTAND HOW SMALL CAN BE A CNTs particles.

YOU MIGHT THINK THAT WHAT IS THE RELATION B/W CIVIL ENGINEERING AND NANO MATERIALS?

Well, in civil engineering we deal with the material having high strength,ductile,environment safe etc.
What if many of these features come from NANO TECHNOLOGY(Carbon nanotubes)

TYPES OF CNTs

On the basis of concentric tubes,there are two form of carbon nanotubes which is widely used.

Single walled carbon nanotubes

1. Single walled carbon nanotubes(SWCNTs)
2. Multiwalled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs)

Due to the properties of CNTs like excellent strength,young's modulus,elasticity, it can be well utilised in civil engineering

Properties of Carbon nanotubes 

1.Strength

Due to carbon-carbon sp2 bond Carbon nanotubes is one of the strongest and stiffest material in the world.

Tensile strength of CNTs is very high.In 2008 Multiwalled carbon nanotubes was tested and it achieves strength of 100 Gpa , whereas steel has a strength of 4.1 Gpa only.

But in case of individual this strength can be reduced by 40 Gpa.

2.Elasticity & ductility

carbon nanotubes are considered as highly elastic material and ductile material. CNTs can be bent constantly without any failure.It can resist a good amount of load without getting serious damage or failure.

3.Low thermal expansion coefficient

Change in length due to temperature is not noticeable.

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Uses of Carbon nanotubes and Nanotechnology

Well the applications of carbon nanotubes is not limited to only civil engineering;Infact in other field the value of CNTs is also rapidly increasing.

 In future the demand and popularity of carbon nanotubes will increase for sure.In many field like civil engineering,electrical engineering,environmental engineering,medicine sector the application of carbon nanotubes or nano technology will be higher in demand.

• From civil engineering point of view, here is some application of CNTs and nano technology that you should know about-

1.Carbon nanotubes and Concrete-

we all know that concrete is weak under tensile strength.As nano technology is improving this problem may be solved in near future.

Nanotubes have many qualities that is essential to be in the list of building materials.It has high tensile strength.

Not only tensile strength that we should look at:compressive strength,ductility and elastic behaviour,young's modulus-these are some parameters that can have a huge impact on concrete.

Some experiments shown that,addition of Carbon nanotubes in concrete increases the compressive strength by 50%, Hardness by 600% at early age of hydration,young's modulus by 200%.

2.Nanotechnology and steel-

Steel is considered as one of the most used building materials in the world.From this it can be cleared that how important is steel for any construction purpose.

In steel welded joints are low in load resisting and strength.In high siesmic zone this welded joints can be dangerous as this can be brittle in nature and can fail without any warning.

DONT WORRY, NANO TECHNOLOGY IS HERE TO MAKE IT SAFE FOR US.

Addition of nano particles of magnesium and calcium in steel leads to increase in weld toughness.

Sandvik Nanoflex and MMFX2 steel are two current steel product that is high in weld toughness and corrosion resistant.

Two traditional quality of steel that are most important are-Strength and ductility.

Sandvik Nanoflex and MMFX2 have both desirable features in sufficient amount.These two is  a result of Modern nano technology.

3.Carbon nanotubes in cementitious material-

A very small amount of CNTs can make a good impact on cementitious material,As this helps to restrict the crack in concrete.

Strength and durability is key element in any cementitious material.By adding Carbon nanotubes ,Materials get densified and increases the durability of the structure.

Durability of these type of structure can be double by the help of carbon nanotubes.

There are many concepts related to nano technology and carbon nanotubes are under research to improve their characteristics and functions.

Researchers are trying to make nano technology a part of reality.There are plenty of qualities present in carbon nanotubes that can be very useful for civil engineering point of view.

Advantages of using Nano Materials in construction

Till now we have learned some basic and very important point regarding the importance of NANO MATERIALS in civil engineering.

collision of Nano technology with civil engineering will make huge impact on our society as it gives us more freedom for selecting building materials.

Here are some advantages of taking nano materials into account-

• Gives high strength of concrete.
• Total quantity of cement can be reduced by adding nano materials,hence saves money and makes environment friendly condition.
• By adding  some metal oxides in nano materials,we can reduce the permeability of concrete.After that we can increase the durability of concrete.
• Mixture of nano materials with cementitious material can improve the mechanical properties like-compressive strength,flexure,abrasion resistance.

Conclusion on Carbon Nanotubes

Its been almost 20 years,the concept of Carbon nanotubes is discovered.Back in time it was just a imagination or just a type of theoretical concept that has rare connection with reality.

As time is moving forward,the demand, resources are also changing.

In recent time Carbon nanotubes or Nano technology becomes a game changer not only in civil engineering but also in medicine department,environment,mechanical engineering etc.

It is interesting to see how this concept can change the traditional process in construction.In near future Carbon nanotubes can rediscover the civil engineering in some way or other.

I hope you liked this article.

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