Research On Preparation And Conductive Performance Of Conductive Carbon Fiber Graphite Asphalt Concrete

The snow-covered or frozen road in south China caused by snowstorm in recent years severely threatens the communication and transportation. The entire highway and airports are closed frequently, the road and its affiliate structures are damaged, and even the transportation in some regions collapsed, inherently led to severe car accidents, displayed adverse impact on people's life, and caused social and economic losses. In view of this, safe and effective deicing and snow melting method is imperatively needed to be applied in the transportation of wet mountainous areas in south China.Conductive carbon fiber graphite asphalt concrete can warm up by itself after being connected to electricity and in this sense can remove the ice and snow on the road. It is of great significance as it can help avoid car accidents caused by lack of friction between the tyre and the road. A certain amount of conductive material, like graphite, carbon fiber, or steel fiber are added in common asphalt concrete so that the asphalt concrete can be conductive. According to electrothermal effect, the conductive asphalt concrete road can generate thermal energy after being connected to electricity, and hence warm up the road to 0℃so that the ice and snow on the road will melt away or evaporate. Based on test data of conductive asphalt concrete both home and abroad, the author conducted tests on AC-20 asphalt concrete to determine the optimal mixture ratio of conductive materials. The mix ratio for conductive carbon fiber graphite asphalt concrete suitable for mountainous regions in south China was obtained finally.Raw materials including asphalt, aggregates, mineral powder, and conductive materials are tested on their performances and proved to meet the stipulation standard. Moreover, the synthesis grading of mineral mixture is calculated according to the stipulations on AC-20 asphalt concrete. The benchmark aggregate ratio is further obtained by tests and calculations on asphalt mixture. The sequence of mixing conductive asphalt mixtures is also adjusted to improve the producing techniques.The resistivity of specimens produced by these material and the aggregates is calculated by two-electrode pattern so as to analyze the respective impact of carbon fiber, graphite, and aggregate ratio on the resistivity. In this way, the range of optimal mixture ratio of conductive materials and aggregates is obtained. The conductive mechanism and model of conductive asphalt concrete are also introduced in this paper.Finally, the wheel tracking test specimen is warmed up in order to analyze the law of resistivity variation with temperature and the law of temperature variation over time. The analysis demonstrates that the conductive carbon fiber graphite asphalt concrete produced in this test displays high efficiency of transferring electricity and heat.