A study on the mechanical and electricity properties of cement mortar added with GGBFS and piezoelectric powder

Environmental concerns regarding energy savings and carbon reduction have been promoted worldwide to mitigate the greenhouse effect. Taiwan, which is located in the plate junction, experiences frequent earthquakes, abundant rainfall during the typhoon season, and frequent natural disasters. Improvements in the intelligent disaster prevention functions of buildings are imperative. This study employs the volumetric method. In the control group, cement was replaced by ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS); in the PZT group, 5% of the fine aggregate was replaced with piezoelectric powder to create cement mortar. The mechanical and electricity properties were tested to assess the correlations among flow, compressive strength, water absorption, and electricity at 50 V and 100 V. At the curing age of 28 days, the compressive strength of the control group was in the range of 29.1–1.7 MPa, whereas the compressive strength of PZT was in the range of 26.8–30.0 MPa. The control group exhibited higher results (1786–2075 Ω) in the electricity property test under 50 V, whereas PZT exhibited lower results (1368–1562 Ω). The compressive strength and results of the electricity property tests demonstrated that the compressive strength and electrical resistance decreased as the replacement of GGBFS increased. The strength of the control group was higher than the strength of PZT because 5% of the fine aggregate was replaced by the piezoelectric material and the piezoelectric material was water-resistant. Thus, the piezoelectric material could not be effectively combined with fine aggregate and cement.