Learning objectives
Knowledge and understanding:
At the end of the course the student will integrate his knowledge of base chemistry with the typical application of civil engineering, will have a complete overview of building materials in relation to their chemical composition, their structure and characteristics of use. He will have a basic understanding of the performance of materials and of the mix design.
Applying knowledge and understanding:
At the end of the course of study the student will develop the ability to choose the best material for the desired applications. He will be able to predict physical and chemical processing to be implemented on materials in order to modify the structure to improve its properties. He will also be able to put in place the appropriate measures to prolong the life of the material. The student will also be able to predict the controls to be carried out to verify that the materials used meet the desired characteristics.
Making judgments:
On passing the exam, the student should have developed the ability to critically evaluate the analytical data of the mechanical behavior of a material to predict the behavior in work, as well as the ability to interpret the data of the controls for acceptance of a material to be used.
Communication skills:
On passing the exam, the student should have acquired sufficient command of the language, at least as regards the technical terminology and specific chemical teaching.
Learning skills:
The final seminar activities are designed to introduce students to the latest developments in terms of research in the field of materials science applied to civil engineering: the student should have acquired the knowledge and basic skills of discipline to deal with, in the future, an independent deepening of these aspects.
Prerequisites
General and Inorganic Chemistry, fundamentals of Organic Chemistry are required.
Course unit content
Theory:
Crystalline and amorphous materials. Engineering materials: metals, ceramic materials, polymeric and composite materials. Mechanical, thermal and electrical properties of materials and tests for their characterization.
-Connection between microstructure and properties. Principal metallic crystal structures. Metallic solid solutions. Crystal lattice defects.
-Heterogeneous equilibria. Binary phase diagrams.
-Burnt and hydrated lime; plaster of paris. Hydraulic lime. Portland cement. Manufacture, hydration processes of Portland cement. Natural and man-made pozzolana, fly ash, silica fume; blast furnace slag. Portland-pozzolana cement, slag cement. Types of Portland cement. Technical tests on cement. Aluminate cement.
-Fine and coarse aggregates. Cement mortar and concrete: properties and tests (time of setting, consistency or workability, bleeding). Admixture for concrete. Lightweight and heavy concretes. Fiber reinforced concretes and polymer impregnated concretes. Shrinkage, creep, compressive strength of concrete. Mix-design of concrete. Hygrothermic treatment of concrete. Concrete degradation.
-Ceramic materials for buildings (bricks, gres, porcelain).
-Engineering plastics. Polymerization reactions for thermoplastics. Thermosetting plastics: chemistry and properties. Polyethylenes, polypropylenes, polyvinylchloride, polymethylmethacrylate, acrylonitrile, polystyrene, polyesters, phenol-formaldehyde resins, epoxy resins, polyamides, polyurethanes, silicones, elastomers. Properties, manifacture and applications in modern buildings. Degradation mechanism.
-Composite materials: properties and applications in civil engineering.
-Metallic materials. Cast irons and steels: production and properties. The iron-iron carbide phase diagram. White, grey, malleable and nodular cast irons Heat treatment of steels (hardening, softening, annealing, normalizing). Standard classification and codification of steels. Alloying elements in steel, stainless steels, steels for tool.
-Electrochemical corrosion of metals. Galvanic cells. Intergranular corrosion. Stress corrosion. Corrosion control and prevention.
-Glasses
Exercises:
- Determination of the composition and pases quantity in phase diagrams.
- Mix design.
Full programme
Introduction to the course. Introduction to the materials under study and need to assess their properties. Properties of metallic materials, polymers, ceramics in relation to the structure and types of bond. Outline of the composite materials. Ionic and covalent bonds. Metallic bond. Secondary bonds. Properties of materials as a consequence of their atomic bonds. Structure of metals. Space lattice and unit cells. Crystal systems and Bravais lattices. Hexagonal and cubic lattices. Atomic packing factors. Miller indices. Comparison between CFC and EC lattices. Polymorphism and allotropy. Elements of X-ray diffraction. Amorphous materials. Solidification and imperfections. Homogeneous and heterogeneous solidification. Energies involved in the homogeneous solidification. Crystals growth. Grains. Substitutional and interstitial solid solutions. Point defects: vacation and interstitial atoms. The C in the Fe lattice: role of APF and voids forms. Line defects: dislocations. Burgers vector. Motion of dislocations in plastic deformation. Motion of dislocations: similarities. Plastic deformation and the role of dislocations. Work hardening. Grain boundaries. Edges of twins. Grain size. Mechanical properties. Mechanical reaction to the stress of a material: plastic, elastic deformation and breakege. Static and dynamic forces. Mechanical resistance tests: tensile test; nominal efforts and deformations; stress / strain diagram; elastic, shear and Poisson modulus; ductility and its measures; breackage stress and necking. Real stress and strain. Examples of tensile tests for different materials. Fracture behavior. Ductile and brittle fracture . Toughness. Fracture in the presence of defects. Impact test. Ductile to brittle transition temperature. Hardness and hardness tests. Fatigue behavior. Fatigue tests. Creep of metals and creep tests. Thermal properties: conductivity, heat capacity, thermal expansion and density; transition temperatures. Electrical conductivity: Ohm's law. Primary and secondary metallurgy. Production of iron and steel. Blast furnace. Primary and secondary siderurgy. Processing of metallic materials. Enforcement mechanisms. Hardening and temperature effect. Control of the grain size. Solid solution strengthening. Effect of alloying elements. Notes on wet and dry corrosion. Reduction potentials. Liabilities. Forms of corrosion: thinning, pitting, stress corrosion cracking and selective corrosion. Corrosion of iron in damp conditions. Pourbaix diagrams. Nod on the polarization curves. Methods of corrosion protection: painting, galvanizing, anodizing, cathodic protection. Work on the design and modification of the environment to reduce corrosion. Phase diagrams: microstructures of equilibrium. Binary phase diagrams: complete miscibility in the liquid state and solid. Determination of the number of phases, their composition and relative abundance. Cu / Ni phase diagram. Phase diagram ofcomplete miscibility in the liquid state and partial or complete immiscibility in the solid state. Eutectic and peritectic transformation. Examples of diagrams. Outline of the ternary phase diagrams. Introduction to Fe / C phase diagram. Diagram of equilibrium. Fe/Fe3C phase diagram. Significant points. Perlite and ledeburite. Crytical points. Ae, Ac and Ar. Simplified diagram. Transformations during cooling for steel: eutettoidic, hypo-and hyper-eutettoidic. Steels and influence of alloying elements on the eutectoidic point. Cast Iron. White and gray cast iron. Malleable and special cast irons. Thermal and mechanical properties. Martensite. TTT and CCT curves. Hardening, tempering, annealing and recrystallizzation. Designation of steels. Designation of steels according to UNI EN 10027 and AISI. Steel for reinforced concrete. Steel for reinforced concrete precompressed. Inox steels. Schaeffler diagram. Austenitic stainless steels. Cor-Ten steel.
Binders: definitions and classifications. Aerial and hydraulic binders. Gypsum. Preparation. Gripping and gripping speed. Properties and types of gypsum. Lime. Off with a stoichiometric excess of water and water. Classification of hydraulic binders. Lime. Pozzolan. Artificial pozzolans (fly ash, silica fume, blast furnace slag) and natural (pozzolan, diatomaceous earth, earthenware). Cement. Portland cement and production cycle. Manufacture of clinker. Grinding and mixing. Clinker burning and chemical changes during cooking. Composition of the clinker and finesse. Chemistry of Portland. Modules. Types of cement and strength classes. Determination of the socket and expansiveness. Chemical requirements and chemical tests. Ferric and white cement. Hydration of Portland cement. Setting and hardening. The role of gypsum. Thermal shades of hydration reactions. Structure of the C-S-H gel. Hydration of Portland: time course and development of resistance. Mineral additions and differences from Portland. Pozzolanic cement and blast furnace. Role of lime. Porosity. Segregation. Water in the pores. Powers relations. Resistance and permeability. Aggregates. Shapes and particle properties. Moisture. Porosity and absorption. Density. Lightweight aggregates. Particle size analysis. Distribution curve. Fuller and Bolomey curve. Comparison of ideal distributions. Maximum diameter of the aggregate. Mixing water. Additives. Water reducers and superplasticizers. Accelerators and retarders. Hardening accelerators.
Air-entraining additives. Requirements for fresh concrete. Measurement of workability. Lowering of the cone and VEBE test. Consistency classes. Factors affecting workability. Workability request and Lyse rule. Segregation and bleeding. Properties of hardened concrete. Transition zone. Water and Abrams law. Compressive strength. Curing and steam curing. Other factors that influence it. Mechanical properties. Compression test. Statistical analysis of the compression test. Legislation. Resistance classes. Deformation-dependent load creep. Load-dependent deformations: plastic shrinkage and humidity and variations of thermal origin. Concrete degradation. Icing. Sulphate attack. Alkali-aggregate reaction. Water washout. Prevention and strength classes. Role of armor. Requirements on the concrete. Mix design. Calculation of a / c, mixing water, cement, aggregates and air. Exercises. Special concrete. Lightweight concrete, high-performance and self-compacting concrete. Workability of SCC. Work on other types of special concrete. Exemples. Introduction to ceramic materials. Raw materials. Production. Chemical characterization of ceramic which determine their properties. Preparation of the dough. Forming. Drying. Cooking and transformations that take place during cooking. Classification of ceramic materials. Bricks. Polymeric materials. thermoplastics and thermosets. Elastomers. Reaction of radical polymerization: polyaddition. Polycondensation polymerization: example of nylon 6,6. Average molecular weight , ponderal weight and numeral one. Dispersion of molecular weights. Degree of polymerization. Copolymers (statistical, alternating, block, pluggable). Structure of macromolecules: constitution, configuration, conformation. The case of polypropylene. Crystallinity. Thermoplastic elastomers: polystyrene / butadiene copolymer. Transitions with temperature. Melting point and glass transition temperature. Mechanical properties. Deformation mechanisms. Viscoelastic behavior. Tensile behavior. Mechanical properties of thermoplastic polymers: effects of temperature. Yield strength and rupture. Notes on the properties of thermosetting polymers. Crosslinked elastomers. Processing technologies. Thermoforming, extrusion molding, injection molding and extrusion blow molding. Major classes of polymers. Optical, thermal and electrical properties. PE, PVC, PP, PS, PC, PMMA, PU, polyester and polyamide also aromatic and building applications. Polymer foams. Composite materials. Fiber-reinforced polymers (FRP) with examples and applications. Fibers of glass, carbon and kevlar.
Glasses.
Bibliography
Reccomended book:
L. BERTOLINI: “Materiali da costruzione. Volume I” Città StudiEdizioni 2010
Additional books:
LUCCO BORLERA, C. BRISI: “Tecnologia dei materiali e Chimica Applicata” Levrotto e Bella, Torino, 1992.
W.F. SMITH: “Principles of materials science and engineering” McGraw-Hill, 1995.
V. ALUNNO ROSSETTI: 'Il calcestruzzo: ‘Materiali e Tecnologia' McGraw-Hill, 2007.
Additional material available via the portal "Web Learning in the University" (LEA UNIPR):
Electronic copy of the slides used during the course.
More in-depth material.
Teaching methods
The course is divided into a series of oral lessons using front projection transparencies
At the end of the course seminars of some topics covered in the course are organized. Depending on their availability, will be organized visits to factories that produce and analyze building materials.
Assessment methods and criteria
The verification of preparation consists of a written exam and then of an oral test.
Verification is thus given:
Written test:
40% divided as follows:
theoretical questions
Correct analysis of the experimental data
Clear description of results
Exercises (mix design / Phase diagram)
Oral examination:
60% divided as follows:
theoretical questions
Properties of exposure
Other information
It's strongly advised to attend the course.
