Piezoresistivity of cement-based materials with acetylene carbon black

The feasibility of measuring the electrical resistance by using the four electrode method based on the embedded loop electrode was verified in order to explore the piezoresistivity of cement-based materials with acetylene carbon black. The variation regularity of electrical resistivity of cement-based materials with acetylene carbon black was studied under single compressive loading. The reproducibility of piezoresistivity of these cement-based materials within the elastic regime was also investigated. The influence of measurement current and eccentric loading on the piezoresistivity of cement-based materials with acetylene carbon black was discussed. The research results show that the errors of electrical resistance measured by using the four electrode method based on the embedded loop electrode are lower than 10%, which indicates that the four electrode method based on the embedded loop electrode is feasible for measuring electrical resistance. The fractional change in electrical resistivity of cement-based materials with 15 vol% acetylene carbon black goes up to 55% and 35% under single compressive loading and within the elastic regime, respectively. And the piezoresistivity is almost free from the influence of measurement current and eccentric loading. These findings suggest that the acetylene carbon black is an effective component for manufacturing piezore-sistive cement-based materials with high sensitivity.