Effect of nano-SiO2 and nano-CaCO3 on the static and dynamic properties of concrete.

Three kinds of nano-concrete, i.e., 2.0% nano-SiO2 doped, 2.0% nano-CaCO3 doped and 1.0% nano-SiO2-1.0% nano-CaCO3 co-doped concretes (NS, NC, NSC) were prepared for a study on static property and dynamic property under different strain rates (50-130 s-1) using HYY series hydraulic servo test system and Φ100 mm split Hopkinson pressure bar test system, and a comparison with plain concrete (PC) as well. The results have shown that under static load, as compared with PC, NC has both strength and elastic modulus increased obviously, while NS has strength decreased and elastic modulus increased, and under dynamic load, there is an obvious strain rate effect for the dynamic compressive strength, impact toughness, energy dissipation and impact failure mode of concrete. Under the same strain rate, the dynamic compressive strength, peak strain, impact toughness and energy dissipation of NC are significantly increased, while its dynamic elastic modulus is decreased. Compared with PC, NS has dynamic compressive strength, peak strain, impact toughness and energy dissipation decreased, and dynamic elastic modulus increased, NC has static and dynamic mechanical properties improved, NS has static and dynamic mechanical properties weakened, and NSC is between PC and NC in static and dynamic mechanical properties, but generally improved. Doped with nano-CaCO3, NC has compactness improved, weak areas reduced, and pore size distribution optimized, while doped with nano-SiO2, NS has obvious internal weak areas, with pore structure degraded.

Dielectric Model of Carbon Nanofiber Reinforced Concrete.

The formula describing the relationship between the dielectric constant of a composite and the dielectric constants or volume rates of its components is called a dielectric model. The establishment of a cement concrete dielectric model is the basic and key technique for applying electromagnetic wave technology to concrete structure quality testing and internal damage detection. To construct the dielectric model of carbon nanofiber reinforced concrete, the carbon nanofiber reinforced concrete was measured by the transmission and reflection method for dielectric constant ε, and ε,, in the frequency range of 1.7~2.6 GHz as the fiber content was 0, 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3% and 0.5%. Meanwhile, concrete was considered as a composite material composed of three phases, matrix (mortar), coarse aggregate (limestone gravel) and air, and the dielectric constants and volume rates of each component phase were tested. The Brown model, CRIM (Complex Refractive Index Model) model and Looyenga model commonly used in composite materials were modified based on the experimental data, suitable dielectric models of carbon nanofiber reinforced concrete were constructed, and a reliability check and error analysis of the modified models were carried out. The results showed that the goodness of fit between the calculated curves based on the three modified models and the measured curves was very high, the accuracy and applicability were very strong and the variation rule for the dielectric constant of carbon nanofiber concrete with the frequency of electromagnetic wave could be described accurately. For ε, and ε,,, the error between the dielectric constant calculated by the three modified models and the corresponding measured values was very small. For the dielectric constant ε,, the average error was maintained below 1.2%, and the minimum error was only 0.35%; for the dielectric constant ε,,, the average error was maintained below 3.55%.

Vanadium dioxide-assisted broadband tunable terahertz metamaterial absorber.

Tunable terahertz (THz) functional devices have exhibited superior performances due to the use of active materials, such as liquid crystals, graphene, and semiconductors. However, the tunable range of constitutive parameters of materials is still limited, which leads to the low modulation depth of THz devices. Here, we demonstrate a broadband tunable THz absorber based on hybrid vanadium dioxide (VO2) metamaterials. Unlike other phase change materials, VO2 exhibits an insulator-to-metal transition characteristic and the conductivity can be increased by 4-5 orders of magnitude under external stimulus including electric fields, optical, and thermal pumps. Based on the unique transition character of VO2, the maximum tunable range of the proposed absorber can be realized from 5% to 100% by an external thermal excitation. Meanwhile, an absorption greater than 80% in a continuous range with a bandwidth about 2.0 THz can be obtained when VO2 is in its metal phase at high temperature. Furthermore, the absorber is insensitive to the incident angle up to 50° and such a broadband THz absorber can be used in applications including imaging, modulating, cloaking, and so on.