Patent ID: 11891335
Assignee: THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
Field: Materials, metallurgy (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC C  Y | IPC C

Claim 0:
1. A multi-functional cementitious material comprising:
a. water;
b. cement;
c. aggregates, wherein the aggregates are fine sand or ground quartz;
d. pozzolanic ingredients at a level of about 0-70% wt of the multi-functional cementitious material;
e. conductive nanoparticulates at a level of about 0.1-30% vol of the multi-functional cementitious material;
f. superplasticizer, or/and accelerator, or/and retarder, or/and viscosity modifying agent; and
g. discontinuous reinforcing fibers, wherein the discontinuous reinforcing fibers are polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers, polyethylene fibers, polypropylene fibers, basalt fibers, or combinations thereof,
wherein the cement, aggregates, and pozzolanic materials are mixed to provide a uniform dry mixture,
wherein the water and superplasticizer, or/and accelerator, or/and retarder, or/and viscosity modifying agent are mixed with the dry mixture to form a cementitious paste having a rheology favorable for even dispersion of reinforcing fibers and conductive nanoparticulates,
wherein the conductive nanoparticulates and the reinforcing fibers are mixed with the cementitious paste to produce the multi-functional cementitious material;
wherein the multi-functional cementitious material has a tailored network of micro to nano-sized pores, aggregates/matrix interfaces, and fiber/matrix interfaces that exhibits a cracking behavior capable of dissipating energy through multiple microcracking with self-controlled microcrack widths of about 10 μm to 100 μm during strain-hardening stage such that the cementitious material is ductile and damage-tolerant, and
wherein the multi-scale structure and network of partially conductive, conductive, and non-conductive paths in the cementitious material also enable the material to behave as an electrical piezoresistive self-sensor under multi-frequency AC probing for measurement and monitoring of its mechanical and deterioration state.