Electromagnetic properties of carbon nanofiber reinforced concrete and comparison with carbon fiber reinforced concrete

The effect of carbon nanofiber (CNFs) content (0–0.5%) on the electromagnetic properties of concrete was analyzed in terms of complex permeability real part (μ′), imaginary part (μ″), loss tangent (tanδm), reflectivity (Φ) and electromagnetic shielding effectiveness (SEE) respectively, and compared with carbon fiber (CFs). The results show that adding CNFs can improve the magnetic polarization performance, absorbing performance and electromagnetic SEE of concrete effectively. And, the larger the CNFs content the better the electromagnetic properties of concrete. With the increase of CNFs content, the μ′, μ″, tanδm and SEE of concrete increase, while the Φ decreases. CNFs is superior to CFs in the improvement effect on electromagnetic properties of concrete. When the CNFs content is 0.5%, the electromagnetic properties of concrete are the best. The minimum Φ of CNFs reinforced concrete is −9.2 dB, and the maximum SEE is 67.0 dB.