Conductive concrete made from recycled carbon fibres for self-heating and de-icing applications in urban furniture

Abstract

This paper presents a broad experimental study performed at laboratory and industrial facilities to develop conductive concrete for self-heating and de-icing applications in urban furniture. Self-heating capacity is achieved by the application of electric current through a highly dense matrix containing recycled carbon fibers and graphite flakes. Prisms and slabs were fabricated with two different conductive concretes and electrode con­figurations to characterize the electrical properties and heating performance. Finally, 3 benches with different electrode disposals were fabricated to assess the heating capacity in real-scale applications. The results presented indicate promising results about the use of recycled carbon fibers for electrothermal concrete applications and identify the electrode configuration that allows the most efficient heat transfer and reduction of temperature gradients within the heated element. Real-scale tests show that the current technology developed is potentially applicable at de-icing applications in climates where temperatures remain within the range of -3 or -5 ºC.