Road salts and deicing chemicals are usually used for deicing and ice removal. However, infrastructure deterioration and groundwater contamination are the main drawbacks for using deicing chemicals. Other methods, such as heating the bridge deck using embedded cables, heated fluids, infrared heat lamps or insulation on the underside of the deck, have been attempted and have met with limited success. Over the past 10 years, an innovative material called "conductive concrete" has been developed and evaluated for bridge-deck deicing. Conductive concrete is a cementitious mixture containing electrically conductive components to enable conduction of electricity. Because of its electrical resistance and impedance, a thin conductive concrete overlay can generate enough heat to prevent ice formation on a bridge deck when connected to a power source. The original conductive concrete mix was developed at the University of Nebraska and later modified at Western Michigan University (WMU). The mix was implemented in a bridge-deck deicing application. Conductive concrete is currently being investigated at WMU for other applications such as electromagnetic shielding and cathodic protection of reinforcement.
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