Recent Advances in Nano-Tailored Multi-Functional Cementitious Composites

Over the past few years, concrete technology has advanced quite dramatically thanks to the use of a great variety of additives and admixtures, which have paved the way for the effective development of new-generation concrete mixtures. Among these additives and admixtures, nanomaterials used in construction materials such as paste, mortar, and concrete mixtures have become very popular recently. Much of the previous attention in regard to the utilization of nanomaterials in construction materials was specifically devoted to the characterization of their fresh-state, hydration, microstructure, pore structure, mechanical, transport, and durability properties. However, research into the tailoring of multi-functional properties of construction materials (especially cementitious) with the use of nanomaterials is still in its infancy.

Recent Advances in Nano-Tailored Multi-Functional Cementitious Composites aims to capture recent major scientific advances and the current state of the art in multi-functional cementitious composites developed with nanomaterials. The book will provide researchers, engineers, and other stakeholders with an insight into future directions of multi-functional capabilities of cementitious composites. Chapters focus on the large-scale development, characterization, and application of multi-functional cementitious composites addressing the following topics: nano-modified concrete; strain-hardening cementitious composites; self-sensing concrete; self-healing and bacteria-based concrete; self-cleaning concrete; self-consolidating concrete; material/construction technology for 3D printing; thermal insulation capability; green concretes including geopolymer concrete; nanoscale characterization methods; low CO₂ reactive magnesia cements; and future developments and challenges of nano-tailored cementitious composites.

The book will be an essential reference resource for academic and industrial researchers, materials scientists, and civil engineers working on the development and application of nano-tailored multi-functional cementitious composites.

Mustafa Şahmaran is currently working as a Full Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering of Hacettepe University, Turkey. His research interests include micromechanical design and durability of high-performance and ultra-ductile cementitious composites, recycling industrial and natural waste products into useful construction materials, concrete durability under mechanical and environmental loadings, new-generation multifunctional cementitious composites with self-healing and self-sensing functionalities and nano-modification in cementitious systems. Prof. Şahmaran has authored or co-authored over 200 technical publications in his career, including more than 100 refereed journal papers. He is currently the Director of the Advanced Building Materials Laboratory at Hacettepe University. Over the past few years, 13 PhD and 30 master students have completed their degrees under his supervision/co-supervision. He has also received several prestigious young scientist awards from various national and internationals organizations, e.g., the Province of Ontario Fellowship in 2007, the Eser Tümen Research and Young Scientist Award in 2012 and 2014, the Turkish Academy of Sciences Distinguished Young Scientist Award in 2012, the Prof. Dr. Mustafa N. Parlar Education and Research Foundation Young Scientist Research Incentive Award in 2013, the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey’s Young Scientist Incentive Award in Engineering in 2014, and the Society of Science Heroes’ Scientist of the Year Award in 2015. In 2018, Mustafa Şahmaran was selected to receive the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Wason Medal for Materials Research for his co-authored paper on the proposition of new supplementary pre-conditioning procedure that can accelerate the degradation process of concrete specimens when exposed to sulfate attack, which was published in the July/August 2016 issue of the 'ACI Materials Journal'. Prof. Şahmaran is a member of several technical committees of the ACI, the American Society of Civil Engineering, the Turkish Society of Civil Engineering, and the US Transportation Research Board.

Faiz Shaikh is an Associate Professor in the School of Civil and Mechanical Engineering of Curtin University, Australia. His research focus is on the development of sustainable binders by incorporating high-volume fractions of industrial by-products as partial replacement of OPC and nano and ultrafine materials, use of recycled aggregates in sustainable concrete, mechanical characterization of ductile fiber-reinforced cement and geopolymer composites, behavior of geopolymer composite in fire and natural fiber-reinforced composites. He is a Chartered Professional Engineer (CPEng.) in Australia, a fellow of Engineers Australia (FIEAust), and a member of the Concrete Institute of Australia. He has supervised 6 PhD and 2 MPhil students and is currently supervising 5 PhD students. Prof. Shaikh has authored and co-authored 182 technical publications, including one book by Springer, six book chapters, 128 reviewed journal papers, and 47 reviewed conference papers. He also holds an h-index of 38 and 3,970 total citations according to Google scholar. He has also been awarded an A$2.17M competitive grant by various research organizations and industries, including the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), the Waste Authority of Western Australia, and the Tyre Stewardship Australia, etc.

Gürkan Yıldırım is currently working as a full-time Associate Professor of Materials Science and Construction Materials in the Department of Civil Engineering of Hacettepe University, Turkey and is affiliated with the Advanced Building Materials Laboratory of the same department. Prof. Yıldırım’s research area of expertise encompasses a wide range of concrete technology, in particular, very ductile fiber-reinforced concretes known as strain-hardening cementitious composites (SHCCs) or engineered cementitious composites (ECCs). His work has mainly focused on the inherent ability of ECCs to recover their own damage (i.e., cracks) without any need of outside assistance through the mechanism known as autogenous self-healing. He has also engaged in studies related to detailed fresh/mechanical/durability property characterization of ECCs, the utilization of nanomaterials in conventional and/or ECC-like composites for performance enhancement and improved self-sensing capability, and ductile composites for repair/maintenance applications. His latest research emphasis is placed on the effective recycling/utilization of construction and demolition (CDW) waste in alkali-activation and development of engineered geopolymer composites (EGC) based on CDW. Prof. Yıldırım is the author/co-author of 2 book chapters and more than 80 journal and conference papers, including 42 journal articles indexed by SCI/SCI-Expanded. He has acted as a reviewer for more than 25 scientific journals and is a Review Editor for the 'Journal of Frontiers in Built Environment – Construction Materials'. He was also involved in several national and international research and governmental projects funded by several authorities (i.e., the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, TUBITAK, the British Council, and the European Commission). Most recently, he was awarded the prestigious Individual Fellowship of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA-IF-2019) funded by the European Commission to perform research at the University of Bradford, UK.