A conductive and swellable backfill material for earthing applications comprises a conductive material selected from the group of graphite, coke powder and a combination thereof, a polyacrylamide powder, a binder comprising cement, and, optionally, a salt selected from the group of magnesium sulfate, sodium sulfate and a combination thereof. This unique backfill material enables to utilize the same in low moisture zones because of its low resistivity, high-water absorption, and non-leachable behavior.

The present disclosure provides compositions comprising modified biochar and a cement composition, as well as methods of making and characterizing such compositions, and/or technologies relating to such compositions, their production, and/or their use.

A magnetizable concrete wireless power transfer pad can include a base, an inductive coil and a pillar. The base can comprise a magnetizable base concrete including concrete and first magnetizable particles, the first magnetizable particles having a magnetic permeability and a magnetic saturation. The inductive coil can be positioned directly adjacent and centered over the base, the inductive coil forming an inductive coil gap at its center inner perimeter between a conductive wire that form the inductive coil, the inductive coil having an outer perimeter, a lateral width, and a longitudinal length. The pillar can extend up from the base through the inductive coil gap, the pillar comprising a magnetizable pillar concrete including concrete and second magnetizable particles, the second magnetizable particles having a magnetic permeability and a magnetic saturation such that the base and the pillar collectively shape an external magnetic field produced by the inductive coil to increase the mutual coupling with a receiver pad, that way increasing the power transfer capabilities of the system.

An object is to provide a graphite-copper composite electrode material that is capable of reducing electrode wear to a practically usable level and to provide an electrical discharge machining electrode using the material. A graphite-copper composite electrode material includes a substrate comprising a graphite material and having pores, and copper impregnated in the pores of the substrate, the electrode material having an electrical resistivity of 2.5 m or less, preferably 1.5 m or less, more preferably 1.0 m or less. It is desirable that the substrate comprising the graphite material have an anisotropy ratio of 1.2 or less. It is desirable that an impregnation rate of the copper in the electrode material is 13% or greater. It is desirable that the substrate comprising the graphite material have a bulk density of from 1.40 Mg/m.sup.3 to 1.85 Mg/m.sup.3.

A nanoporous carbon-loaded cement composite that conducts electricity. The nanoporous carbon-loaded cement composite can be used in a variety of different fields of use, including, for example, a structural super-capacitor as an energy solution for autonomous housing and other buildings, a heated cement for pavement deicing or house basement insulation against capillary rise, a protection of concrete against freeze-thaw (FT) or alkali silica reaction (ASR) or other crystallization degradation processes, and as a conductive cable, wire or concrete trace.

The present invention relates to a self-calcining electrode material for electric arc furnaces, containing one or more carbon components and a binder, wherein the binder is hard bitumen and having a needle penetration at 25 C. according to DIN EN 1426 of <50 [per 0.1 mm] and/or a softening point (ring and ball) according to DIN EN 1 427 of at least 65 C. and/or having a density at 25 C. according to DIN EN 52004 of 0.5 to 2 g/cm3, wherein the electrode material has a PAH content of <500 ppm. The hard bitumen is preferably derived by flash distillation from soft and medium-hard bitumen types and has a high sulfur content.

Cementitious materials having high damage tolerance and self-sensing ability are described herein. These materials may replace conventional concrete to serve as a major material component for infrastructure systems with greatly improved resistance to cracking, reinforcement corrosion, and other common deterioration mechanisms under service conditions, and prevents fracture failure under extreme events. These materials can also be used for the repair, retrofitting or rehabilitation of existing concrete structures or infrastructure systems. Furthermore, these materials may offer capacity for distributed and direct sensing of cracking, straining and deterioration with spatially continuous resolution wherever the material is located, without relying on installation of sensors. The present invention relates to multifunctional cementitious structural or infrastructure materials that integrate self-sensing with damage tolerance for improving safety, extending service life, and health monitoring of structures, components, and infrastructure systems.

An electrical grounding assembly includes an electrically conductive metal grounding plate, and a corrosion-protective jacket enclosing the grounding plate. The jacket is electrically conductive and water impermeable. The electrical grounding assembly further includes an electrically conductive line having a first end in electrical contact with the grounding plate and enclosed in the jacket, and an opposed second end outside of the jacket for connection to a structure to be electrically grounded.

An electromagnetic interference (EMI) resistant cementitious ink comprising a hydraulic cement, calcium carbonate, silica sand, taconite material, and a conductive material. A ratio of the silica sand to the taconite material is 1:1. In some embodiments, the taconite material includes taconite powder and fine taconite aggregate having a ratio of 1:1. In some embodiments, the conductive material includes carbon-based nanoparticles in solution. In further embodiments, the EMI-resistant cementitious ink has a shielding effectiveness in accordance with ASTM D4935-18 of at least 4.0 dB.

A cementitious nano-engineered method and resultant composite includes a modified aggregate material configured from a plurality of fine aggregate particles (FAg) particles pretreated with a graphene oxide (GO), wherein the graphene oxide (GO) is further arranged as a plurality of crosslinked structures that arranges for a refined interfacial zone (ITZ) with a thickness of 3 ?m to 10 ?m; and a water/cement (w/c) ratio content configured with the modified aggregate material. The interface of modified aggregate and a cementitious phase largely determines the mechanical properties and durability performances of cement mortar and concrete. Moreover, the methods and composites also provide for a targeted and more efficient approach to develop smart cement composites through nanoengineering of the interfacial transition zone.