Construction Materials: ENBU600

Mahesh Babu Purushothaman

Lecturer
Department of Built Environment Engineering
School of Future Environments

[email protected]

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Construction Materials ENBU600

ENBU600 Construction materials

CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

Properties of Materials

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Outline

• Technical aspects of mechanical, thermal, acoustical, chemical and

environmental properties of construction materials

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 Material Groups

Construction materials can be grouped into 4 broad categories

Metals

Non-metallic inorganic materials

Organic materials

Polymers
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Material Groups
• Metals
are refined from ores that have been extracted from the earth (e.g. steel, Aluminum, etc.)

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Material Groups
• Non-metallic inorganic materials
are extracted from the earth (e.g. sand, limestone, glass, brick, etc.)

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Material Groups
• Organic materials
include natural and synthetic materials based on chemical compound containing carbon
(e.g. wood, paper, asphalt, rubber, etc.)

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Material Groups
• Polymers
Consist of large molecules composed of repeating structural units connected by chemical
bonds (e.g. pipes, textiles, adhesives, etc.)

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 Building

• Building structure consists of many components

• Beams
• Columns
• Walls
• Floors
• Ceilings
• Building might be occupied or
used by
• People
• Furniture
• Storage items
• Building structure also face
Environmental loads
• Wind
• Snow
• Earthquake
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Building Dead Load VS Live Load

• Dead load
Structural loads from the actual
construction materials that are
permanently fixed

• Live loads
The short-lived structural forces acing on a
building resulting from occupancy, use, or
environment

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Static and Dynamic Loads

Building
Structure
Static Load Dynamic Load
Permanently Fixed Variable Short-Lived

• Dead loads are considered static loads because they are unchanging and stay
constant

• Live loads are defined as dynamic loads because their force and duration can
rapidly change

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 Material Properties

 To understand how materials respond in different conditions, material properties are analysed.

 Materials properties are used to judge the suitability of a material for the functional
requirements of a given project

 Materials chosen for construction application must perform

under
• Loadings
• Stresses
• Environmental conditions

 Different materials significantly vary in their properties.

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Material properties: categories

The most important properties of materials that determine their functionality in construction
can be divided into 5 categories:

1. Mechanical properties

2. Thermal properties

3. Acoustical properties

4. Physical & Chemical properties

5. Environmental properties

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Material Properties continued…
Acoustical properties
Mechanical Properties Thermal properties (Response to sound)
Compressive strength Thermal conductivity Sound Transmission Coefficient (STC)
Sound Absorption Coefficients (α)
Tensile strength Thermal expansion Physical
Shear strength
Thermal Stress Electrical conductivity
Elasticity
Melting point Magnetic properties
Ductility
Density
Hardness
Impact resistance
Specific gravity
Environmental
Fatigue strength
Health effects (long and short term) Chemical
Permeability
Environmental effects Corrosion/ Oxidization
Toughness
Ultraviolet degradation
Malleability
Fire resistance
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Mechanical Properties
• Mechanical properties are a measure of material’s ability to resist mechanical forces
including
• Continuous static loads (dead loads)
• Recurrent dynamic loads (live loads)

• Mechanical properties of materials are defined by their

• Compressive strength
• Tensile strength
• Shear strength
• Elasticity
• Ductility
• Hardness
• Impact resistance
• Fatigue strength
• Permeability
• Toughness
• Malleability
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Compressive/Tensile/Shear

• Compressive strength
Resistance against forces that push on a
member and tend to shorten it
Vertical Shear
• Tensile strength
Resistance against forces that pull on a
member and tend to increase its length
Horizontal Shear

• Shear strength
Resistance against forces that work in
opposite directions, parallel with shear plane
(the plane of the force)
• Vertical shear Tension
Torsion Shear
Compression
• Horizontal shear
• Torsion shear

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 Steel

Move the curser above, click, and play video

Torsion Shear Strength Test

Move the curser above, click, and play video

Timber

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Stress and Strain
• Stress

• Strain
Change per unit length in linear dimension
of body that go with a change in stress

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 Elasticity

• Proportional constant between stress and strain is called Modulus of Elasticity

(E or E-value)

• Elastic range of a material is where its deformation is recoverable after

removal of the force

• For stresses within the elastic range, E is basically a measure of stiffness and
rigidity
E = stress / strain

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 Ductility

• Ductility

Ability of a material to be deformed plastically

without actually breaking or fracturing

Necking
 Materials with low ductility are called brittle

Breaking or fracturing

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 Stress-Strain Diagrams

• Representation of behaviour of material under load is specified for

• Compression
• Tension
1 Elastic region*
Plastic region
• Shear

1- A strong and brittle material, because there is

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little strain for a high stress and then sudden failure

Stress
with little or no plastic deformation (e.g. Glass)
2- A strong material that is not ductile, because it is 3
very strong and breaks after a little deformation
(e.g. steel wire)
3- A ductile material with necking and plastic
deformation after elastic region (e.g. aluminium)
4- A plastic material with very small elastic region

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Strain
• Diagram data is obtained from
testing standard material specimens in a universal *In elastic region
Deformation is proportional to the force applied
testing machine under Tensile load Deformation is recoverable after removal of the force 21
 Hardness
• Hardness
Measure of ability of material to resist
indentation or surface scratching

Move the curser above, click, and play video 22

 Impact resistance

• Impact strength
Ability of material to resist a very rapidly applied load, such as the strike of a hammer

Charpy Impact Test

Move the curser above, click, and play video
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Fatigue strength

• Fatigue strength
Resistance of a material to a cyclic load that varies in direction and/or magnitude

Process of tensile fatigue failure

Move the curser above, click, and play video

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Permeability

The rate of water flow through a material is a function of the material’s permeability

• Permeability is measured in units of permeance, called perms and is typically referred

to as the perm rating
• A vapour retarder is a material used for damp proofing - typically a plastic or foil sheet
– with a perm rating of 0.1 or less

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 2. Thermal Properties

The properties of materials related to their response to heat

• The response of material subjected to change in temperature includes:

• Contraction
• Expansion
• Conduction
• Reflection of heat

Contraction Expansion Conduction Reflection

( in cold condition) (in Hot condition)
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Thermal Properties

• In terms of thermal properties ( Thermal conductivity & resistance),

construction materials can be classified as:
• Insulators: materials that resist transfer of heat
• Conductors: materials that encourage the transfer of heat

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Thermal Conductivity

• Thermal conductivity (K)

Ability of material to transfer heat from high temperature area to lower

temperature area

• Thermal contact conductance (C)

The coefficient of heat transfer between solid bodies in thermal contact.

• Coefficient of Thermal Expansion (CTE)

The ability to change shape in response to temperature change

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 U-value and R-value
• Frequently used in building codes to specify minimum thermal criteria for an exterior building
component
 Thermal transmittance (U-Value): ability to transmit heat flow
 Thermal Resistance (R-Value): ability to resist heat flow

• Insulating potential of building materials such as insulation and windows is often

identified by either a U- or R-value

Lower the U value less the heat loss and higher the
U values higher the heat loss. U-value is the
mathematical reciprocal of R-value; that is, U = 1/R
and R = 1/U.

Widely used in construction industry

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https://www.building.govt.nz/assets/_generated_pdfs/building-code-requirements-for-house-insulation-2431-all.pdf
 Melting Point: Change of State

• Freezing and melting indicate the temperature that a material is said to

undergo a change of state

• Materials with high melting temperatures (e.g. non-metallic inorganic

materials)
• Perform better at high temperature
• Retain their mechanical properties over a wider range of temperature

• Metals do not perform as good as non-metallic inorganics under high

temperature service conditions. Thus, steel structural members must be
protected with a fire-resistant material.

• Organic materials perform the poorest in conditions of high temperature

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Change of State

• Steel will not burn, but it looses its strength as its temperature
rises.

Still frame building collapses due to fire

Move the curser above, click, and play video 31
 Heat Capacity

• The specific heat of a substance is the amount of energy required to raise the
temperature of 1 gram of the substance by 1°C. The units for specific heat is
joules per gram per degree (J/g°C)

• Solid and liquid materials with high specific heat capacity can:
• Store heat from sun during the day
• Discharge heat by natural heat transfer at night

• This process sometimes referred to

as thermal mass

• Excellent way to provide low-cost

heating and energy management

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3. Acoustical Properties

• Acoustics
Branch of physics that deals with generation, transmission, and control of sound
waves (Hz)

• Acoustical Properties
The ability of materials to either absorb or reflect sound waves

The acoustical properties of interior finish materials directly affect occupants by

influencing the quality of speech, music, and other audible sounds projected in a
space.

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 Acoustical Properties
• Sound Absorption Coefficients (α)
• Is calculated based on the intensity of reflected sound (𝐼𝐼𝑅𝑅 ) and the intensity of
incident sound (𝐼𝐼1 ) as follows from 0 to 1:
𝐼𝐼𝑅𝑅
α=1−
𝐼𝐼𝐼𝐼

• Materials with perfectly rigid surface would act

as ideal reflector and would reflect all of the
frequency range
• Materials with softer surfaces would not be
acoustically rigid, and would reflect some of the
frequency range

• Sound Absorbers
• Soft materials (Fabric-covered panel α =0.46-1)
• Rigid materials with soft surface (Facing-brick
brickwork α =0.04-0.49)
• Rigid materials with hard and porous surface
(Perforated veneered chipboard with 9% hole
surface ratio α =0.35-0.68) 34
Move the curser above, click, and play video
 Acoustical Properties

• Sound Transmission Coefficient (STC)

The Sound Transmission Coefficient reflects ability to block sound transmission (a number
rating scale) of a structure ( example: wall, ceiling, or floor assembly’s) . The higher the number,
the greater the resistance to decibel levels.

Fiberglass : STC is 40 35
4. Chemical Properties

• Chemical Property
Material’s tendency to undergo chemical change or reaction due to its composition and
interaction with environment

• Construction materials are chemically degraded by the environment

• Chemical change can alter the original composition of materials and affect their
properties, including:

• Oxidization (iron rusting)

• Ultraviolet degradation (plastic rope discolouration outdoor)
• Fire resistance rating(firebrick resistance in fireplace)

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Oxidization

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Ultraviolet Degradation

• Reduction in performance of some building materials is related to exposure to

ultraviolet light or that portion of sunlight in the ultraviolet spectrum

• UV radiation tends to break down solvents

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Fire Resistance

• Combustibility is of prime importance in the selection of building materials

• A material of low combustibility is called fire resistant

• Emphasis on resistance to fire is a large component of building code

constraints

Fire Resistance Rating

Fire Resistance is also specified as Rating (minutes)
The FRR is made up of three numbers and functions, measured in time (in minutes) for which
each of the criteria Stability, Integrity, and Insulation are satisfied. The rating is stated in minutes
in the form of number/number/number ( for example 120/90/30) representing time of
resistance with respect to Stability(R), Integrity(E), and Insulation(I).

http://www.legislation.govt.nz/regulation/public/1992/0150/latest/DLM162576.html#DLM164793
http://nzcma.org.nz/document/279-25/NZCMA_MM_-_2.1_-_Fire_Resistance.pdf

https://cdn.ymaws.com/concretenz.org.nz/resource/resmgr/docs/masonry/mm_2.1_fire_resistance.pdf
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5. Environmental Properties

• Building materials are evaluated and chosen based on

• Performance
• Aesthetics
• Cost

• For green and sustainable building materials, these criteria are expanded to
include the impacts associated with use and manufacturing of the materials
on
• Human health
• Environment

• Environmentally Preferable Products (EPPS)

Those products with lesser or reduced effect on human health and the environment
comparing with competing products that serve the same purpose
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 Toxicity to the Environment

• More than 500 pollutants identified in common building materials, causing

• Asthma
• Allergies
• Cancer
• Reproductive and nervous system disorders
• Builders receive short-term and long-term exposures to these hazardous
materials from the
• Off-gassing of solvent-based products and cleaners
• Sawdust
• Dust particulates from construction materials

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Why characterise material properties?

Understand  To understand material behaviour under different loading and

environmental conditions

 To make the best choice for engineering applications

 To ensure Health & safety in the end use of the material

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STRESS, STRAIN & STRENGTH

Hook Law
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D23hzv-3Tf0

Stress strain steel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8U4G5kcpcM

Stress strain concrete

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7U91LbKFjI

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Construction materials

Thank you!

[email protected]

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