Vol.

17

No. 4

Journal of Wuhan University of Technology - Mater. Sci. Ed.

Dec. 2002

An Improvement in Electrical Properties of Asphalt Concrete

WU Shao-peng MO Lian-tong SHUI Zhong-he XUAN Dong-xing XUE Yong-jie YANG Wen-feng Wuhan University of Technology
( Received: Jan. 28,2002)
Materials such as Koch A t t - 70, basalt aggregate, limestone powder and graphite particles were used to prepare conductive asphalt concrete, which is a new type of maltifanctional concrete. The mix propertion by weight was shown as follows. Fine aggregates (2.36 - 4.75 nun ) :fine aggregates ( < 2.36mm ) : limestone powder : asphalt = 120:240:14: 30. The content of added graphite particles ranged from 0% to 20% ( by the weight of asphalt concrete). A conductive asphalt concrete with a resistivity around 10-103O" m was obtained. Special attention was paid to the effects of graphite content, graphite physical-chemical properties, asphalt content and temperature on the resistivity. Furthermore, an attempt was made to develop an electrically conductive model for asphalt concrete. Keywords: conductiveasphalt concrete ; electrical properties ; resistivity; electrically conductive model

Abstract:

1 Introduction
Electrically conductive cement concrete is researched in the world for about ten years. Some remarkable achievements have been made in this field It-61 . It has been proved that conductive cement concrete is a multifunctional and smart material, which has an extensive application prospect. The self-sensing ability of strain danger and temperature could be used in structure vibration control, traffic monitoring, weight determination, building securing and so oni3'41; the thermoelectric behavior of conductive cement concrete can be used in deicing and building heating [5'63 . It is necessary to master the electrical properties of asphalt concrete due to its extensive applications. Compared with conductive cement concrete, conductive asphalt concrete is more complicated. The reason is that asphalt is a complex mixture of organic matters, whose resistivity ranges from 1011 to 1013~'m and the resistivity of asphalt concrete is as high as l07 to 109f2 9m. Hence both of them are electrical insulating materials. According to the basic theory of conductive polymer composite, conductive asphalt concrete with a resistivity around 10 - 103~2 9 m could be achieved by the addition of electrically conductive materials, such as graphite particles, carbon fibers, steel fibers [7- u l. Asphalt pavement has been extensively applied in expressway and runway of airfield. With the excellent electrical behavior, conductive asphalt concrete would have a profound effect on pavement deicing, damaged testing, highway traffic monitoring and so on. In this work, the electrical conduction behavior of asphalt cogcrete was studied with a focus on the effects of graphite WU Shao-peng(~~"~):Born in 1965;Prof. ;Key Laboratory for Silicate Materials Science and Engineering of Ministry of Education, Wuhan University of Technology,Wuhan 430070, China

content, graphite physico-chemical property, asphalt content and temperature on the resistivity. And the conductive mechanism was also exploited.

2 Experimental
2.1 Materials
(1) Graphite particles:crystallized graphite and microcrystalline graphite. The physico-chemical properties of graphite particles used are shown in Table 1. (2)Asphalt: heavy traffic asphalt A H - 70 made in Koch Asphalt Co. L t d ( H u b e i ) . Its major technical standards: penetration 65 ; ductility (5 ~ em) 167.3; soften point 51.5 ~ ( 3 ) Aggregate: basalt fine aggregate, max size is 4.75mm, devided into two type:between 2.36mm to 4.75ram and below 2.36mm. (4) Limestone powder: the primary chemistry compounds are 51.5 % CaO and 1.76 % SiO2 .
Table 1 The Physico-Chemical Property of Graphite Partides

Object

Crystallized graphite 1.4 0.5 6.85 35 0.4

Microcrystalline graphite 1.11 0.21 8.35 60 1.2

Absorbingoil vahlef(ml' g-1)

S~facearearatia/(m2"g l) pH Diameter/~un Volatility/%

2.2 lows:

Methods (a) The mix proportion by weight is shown as fol-

Fine aggregates (2.36mm - 4.75mm) : fine aggregates ( < 2.36ram) : limestone powder: asphalt = 120:240 :14: 30. In order to make well-distributed graphite particles, the three-level mixing method was used for mixing of conductive asphalt concrete. The procedure is demonstrat-

70

Jottrn',d of WtdaanUniversityof Technology- Mater.~i. Ed.

l)ec. 2002

ed in Fig. 1. The size of the specimen was O 50 x 45rrml. (b) Resistivity determination : a r~istivity tester for insulating materials was used when the resistivity was over 10612;when it was below 106f2,a avometer can be used. (c) Reistivity calculation : The resistivity was calculated as follows: p= RS/H (1) where: p = resistivity of conductive asphalt concrete; R = resistance of conductive asphalt concrete; S = ero~s section area of the specimen; H = height of the specimen , .. adding adding laggregate~net~e"~ grap.h!teo p h a l t

tact resistance between graphite particles governed the resistivity. +Microcrystalline graphite ~ --m--Crystallize,t ~ 8.0 ~ - - ~ graphite

4.0

"~ 2.0
0.0 8 ' ~ ~- J Crystallizedgraphitecontent/wt%

Fig.2 Effectof Graphite Content on 'lhe Resistivity Fig. 1 E procedure of conductiveasphalt concrete From Fig. 2, it is seen that the resistivity of asphalt concrete with low graphite content was very high. With increasing the graphite content, the resistivity gradually decreased. When the graphite content in asphalt concrete increased to a critical content i. e, for crystalline graphite content about 1.5% ,for micr~crystalline graphite content 7%,the resistivity declined rapidly, which was a narrowsudden-drop area. Beyond the critical content, the rate of resistivity varying with the graphite content became
smooth.

3
3. 1

Results and Discussion

Efl'ects of graphite p h y s i c o - c ~ c a l property and graphite content on the resistivity The critical content of nficrocrystalline graphite particles was near 8%. The resistivity is 2.62 x 107~'m with 7% of microerystalline graphite particles. When microcrystalline graphite content increases up to 8%, the resistivity reduced to 2.41 x 106~" m. With 9% microerystalline graphite, the resistivity could reach 1.43 x 104~ 9 m. and then the higher the graphite content, the better the electrical conduction. When the content of graphite particles increased to 17%, the resistivity reduced to 5.23~"
m.

The resistivtity reduced slowly with the content of co'stallized graphite particles below 2%. When the crystallized graphite content reached 2 % , the resisitivity reduced obviously, only to 6.96 x 107~ 9 m. By increasing crystallized graphite content to 3 %, the resistivity reduced to 3.45 x 102~ 9 m. The resistivity with 5% crystallized gTaphite content was equal to that with 17% microcrystalline graphite content, which reduced to 5. l ~ " m. Increasing the content of graphite particles continuously, the resisitivity reached 1.31"I'm with 6% crystallized graphite content. Fig. 2 shows the effect of graphite content on the resistivity. The results indicated that the most primary factor affecting the electrical conduction properties of asphalt concrete was the content of the graphite particles. As an electrically conductive material, graphite particles should have a high-structured, large surface area ratio and an excellent surface chemistry -7-9. In asphalt concrete, the resitivity of asphalt is higher than that of aggregate. Before the pemolation phenomenon appeared 75'6] , the electrical network[9'12~ was almost formed by aggregates; near the critical graphite content, the electrically conductive network of the graphite particles began to form; beyond the critical content [5"9i , the electrical network was already formed, and then the con-

The effect of the crystallized graphite particles on the resistivity was similar to the microcrystalline graphite particles. But the crystallized graphite particles were more effective on reducing the r~istivity. Assuming in a cube. specimen, the resistance was the product between the contact number in the direct current and the contact number resistance and the resistance is inversely proportional to the network number in the direct current. So the electrical conductivity of asphalt concrete was calculated as follows: 4d

3(3L - 2)( V f - 3 L ) RoL

a =

(2)

where: d = Diameter of graphite particle; L = Side of cube specimen; Vf = Volume percent of graphite particle; Ro = Contact resistance between graphite particle. Formula (2) indicates that the main factors affecting the electrical conduction of asphalt concrete include diameter, graphite content, contact resistance of graphite particles. Firstly, having a larger special surface area and particle number per unit volume, the particles provide a high probability to contact each other and to form an electrically conductive network. Secondly, the absorbing oil volume of crystallized graphite particles was higher than that of miemerystalline graphite particles, which showed that crystallized graphite [)'articles have a higher structure and a better opportunity to form an electrical network. Moreover crystallized graphite particles had a lower pH value than microcrystalline graphite particles, which showed that it has an excellent surface chemistry. So it has a less bad

Vol. 17 No.4

WU Shao-peng et

al

: Improvementof Electrical Properties of... 3.3

71

effect on the electron transportation. 3.2 Effect of asphalt content on the resistivity Asphalt content also was one of the primary factors affecting the resistivity of asphalt concrete. The conductive mechanism of asphalt concrete is explained mainly by the particles contact conductive theory and tunneling effectI~21. Of the two theories, graphite conductive asphalt concrete is perfect at first. When there are few graphite particles in asphalt concrete, the particles are separated by asphalt, so the system is insulating. When the content of graphite particles increase, the gaps among the graphite particles reduce, and some of the particles contact together to form an electrical network. Therefore, the conduction was mainly due to the tunneling effect. When graphite content increases to some extent, asphalt concrete shows a good conduction for the result that the electrical network of graphite particles formed. The test result of the resistivity with 4% graphite content at different asphalt contents is shown in Fig. 3. Within 5 % - 7 % asphalt content, the resistivity increased gently with the increase of asphalt content. The resistivity is 4 . 4 ~ " m , 11.4~2" m with 5 % and 7 % asphalt respectively. When asphalt content was 8 %, the resistivity increased greatly to 257.4f2" m. By increasing asphalt content, the resistivity of the asphalt concrete with 11% asphalt increased to 1.63 x 10212" m, which was 37 times of that with 5 % asphalt. It is implied that the critical ratio of graphite particles to asphalt is about 1 : 2, which would dramatically affect the resistivity. 2OO 180
16o

140 120 too 80 60 40 2O

I

7 8 9 l0 Asphalt contenl/wt%

ll

12

Fig. 3 Effectof asphalt content on the resistivity 100

, Cl 3.0% '-~"'3.5% /AK~

Effect of temperature on the resistivity The resistivity of asphalt reduces with increasing temperature. From Fig. 4 ( a ) , the resistivity of the crystallized graphite asphalt concrete increased with temperature increase. A turning point appeared when temperature ascended to a certain degree. For the asphalt concrete with 3 % , 3.5 % and 4 % crystallined graphite, the turning-point were 25 ~ 35 ~ and 35 ~ respectively. Especially, the coefficient of thermal expansion of asphalt is 0. 00061 ~ - 1. Moreover asphalt is a complex mixture of organic matters, which included some crystallized polymers. They have a larger coefficient of thermal expansion near the crystallization temperature. The volume expansion of asphalt may lead to the separation of the electrical network that already formed tight particle contact and then the resistivity increased with the temperature increase. A sudden change of the resistivity may appear when the expansion reaches to a certain extent. This phenomenon relates to the percolation effect, the tunneling effect and the interface e n e r g y e f f e c t [7-9] . This effect become more obvious near the soften temperature of asphalt. When the gaps among graphite particles increased, a large number of electrically conductive passways was damaged. The resistivity increased greatly. When the temperature increased continuously, graphite particles were easy to tranfer, some conductive pass-ways that had been dmnaged could be assembled again to form a new network. Accordingly, the resistivity tended to reduce. The effect of temperature on the resistivity of conductive asphalt concrete containing micmerystalline graphite particles is shown in Fig. 4 (b). qtle resistivity of asphalt reduced with the temperature increasing firstly, and it was proportional to the temperature. However, the tuming-point did not appear up to 80~ In this ease, the microerystalline graphite contents were much higher than that of the crystallized graphite. High graphite content enhanced the thermal stability of the mixture. Hence, the conductive particles were not easy to move, and the resistivity maintained an ascending tendency with the increase of temperature. 350,
300! a

+10% ~-~.-.11%
-~:--12% A~ ~

.-"r .... ...~/

80~ --- r - - 4 . 0 q / / . ~ .

~ . ~ "~
....

25oi
150

-20

20 40 Temperature/ "12

60

-20

0 ~ '

.................................
20 40 60

80

Temperature/'12

(a) Crystallizedgraphite (b) Microcrystallinegraphite Fig.4 Effectof temperatureon the resistivity

72
3.4

Journal of Wuhan Universityof Technology- Mater. Sci. Fxt.

Electrically conductive model of graphite asphalt concrete

Dec. 2002

According to the test r~ults presented above, we can conclude that a slight conductive effect ~curred in plain asphalt concrete (without graphite particles) by means of the aggregate network. Below the critical content, graphite particles acted as resistance bridges, which helped to reduee the contact resistance of aggregates. Near critical graphite particle content, graphite particles were clo~ to

each other and the tunneling effect formed. Therefore the resistivity and capacitance of gaps among graphite particles were the primary factors affecting the resistivity. Beyond critical graphite particle content, a conductive network of graphite particles was formed. So the contact resistance of graphite particles determined the resistivity. Electrically conductive model of asphalt concrete is shown in Fig. 5.

: ~.(~. -"-'..Beyond critical graphite

particle content
I I

ng
Near critical graphite particle content

Fig.5 Electrically conductive model of graphite asphalt concrete Re--Contact resistance of graphite particles; Re--Resistance of graphite particle; Rs--Resistivity of gap between graphite particles; Cg--Capaci "tance of gap between graphite particles; 2 N Banthia. Electrical Resistivityof Carbon and Steel Micro-fiber Reinforced Cement. Cement and Concrete Research, 1992, 22 (5) :804 - 814 S A Abo. Electrical Conductivity of Concrete Containing Silica Fume. Cement and ConcreteResearch,1995,25(6):1615- 1625 S Wen and D D I. Chung. Carbon Fiber-reinforced Cement as a Then'nistor. Cement and Concrete Research, 1999, 29(6) :961 965 D D L Chung. Electrical Conduction Behavior of Cement-matrix Composites. Joarnal of Materials and Performance,2002, 11(2): 194 - 204 S Wen and D D L Chung. ~ebeck Effect in Carbon Fiber Reinforced Cement. Cement and Concrete Research, 1998,23(4):837 - 841 Wan Ying. Electric Properties of Carbon Black-Butadiene Nitrite Rubber Composites. Polymer Materials Science & Engineering, 1999,15 (5):25-30 Zhen Kezheng. Properties of Silicone Rubber Composite Filled With High-structured Conductive Carbon Black. Symha~/zeRubbet,2000,23 (6):366- 369. ~ Chuangcheng.Study on Conductive Plastics Filled by Cat, nblack. Plastics ,2000,29(1) :32 - 34 Yao Mu. The Study on the Electrical ConductivityModel of the Composite Conductive Fiber. Northu~t Institute of Textile Sci. and Tech. ,2001,15(2) :231 - 215 Xuan Zhaolong. Research on FFC Effect in Carbon/polymer Conducting Composites. Plastics, 1999,19(10) :25 - 30 Shui 7Jaonghe. Study on The Electrical Properties of Carbon Fiber-cement Comtx~site(CFCC). Journal of Wuhan University of Technology - Materials Science Edition, 1995, 10(4) :38 41

Conclusions
3 4

a) Conductive asphalt concrete with the resistivity up to 10 ~2. m can be achieved by the addition of conductive materials such as graphite particles. b) The effect of crystallized graphite particles on the resistivity was similar to that of microcrystalline graphite particles. But crystallized graphite particles were more efficient in reducing resistivity. c) The temperature had a remarkable effect on electrical conduction of the asphalt concretes. The resistivity of microcrystalline graphite asphalt concrete continuously increased with the temperature. However there was a turning point of resistivity with increase of temperature for crystallized graphite asphalt concrete. The turning point appeared to be related to the content eft the crystallized graphite. d) The conductive mechanism of asphalt concrete mainly was explained by the particles contact conductive theory and tunneling effect. Content of graphite particles, temperature and content of asphalt can change the gaps and contacting states among graphite particles.

9 10

11 12

References
1 P J Tumi. Electrical Conductivity of Portia'.d-cement Mortars. Cement and ConcreteRa~_xtrch, 1996,26(4) :529 - 534