BUILDING MATERIALS FOR SUSTAINABILITY

General Module

Course Sheet

Course code:

AI776

Academic Year of enrolment:

2020

Year of supply:

2021/2022

Type of Course:

Related/Supplementary

Degree:

Course of 2nd Cycle Degree in BUILDING ENGINEERING

Disciplinary Sector:

Science and Technology of Materials

Is part of:

INTEGRATED COURSE IN BUILDING MATERIALS AND TECHNOLOGY

Location:

PESCARA

Credits:

Programme Year:

Professor and Collaborators:

FRALEONI MORGERA ALESSANDRO

Cycle:

Second semester

Hours of classroom activity:

Individual study hours:

Prerequisites:

Basic chemistry and physics notions.

Objectives

D1 - Knowledge and understanding. At the end of the course, the student will have to know the basic chemical principles (bond energies, electronegativity differences, etc.) that underlie the properties of the materials studied, the properties (especially mechanical) of the various materials and how these are related to the their microstructure and / or chemical composition
D2 - Ability to apply knowledge and understanding. The student will have to be able to apply the knowledge acquired by rationally evaluating the mechanical properties of various materials (or families of materials) and demonstrating that he has understood the chemical and microstructual basis of these behaviors (e.g. explaining why a martensitic steel is hard and fragile, which are the causes for this behavior at the microstructural level, and how to obtain that type of structure by means of appropriate heat treatments).
D3 - Autonomy of judgment. The student must be able to evaluate, choosing among the various possibilities, the choice of the most suitable material for the production of a mechanical or construction component.
D4 - Communication skills. The student must be able to clearly describe the mechanical and / or structural characteristics of the various materials treated, and to effectively communicate the physical and chemical foundations underlying said mechanical / structural properties.
D5 - Learning skills. The student must be able to interpret and use technical manuals to select components or specific applications, and to acquire in a reasoned way information on innovative materials related to the topics studied.

Contents

Review of chemistry basics and organization of matter
Generalities on Building Materials (classifications, history, meaning of sustainability)
Binders and cements (focus on Portland)
Concrete
Reinforced and prestressed concrete
Steels and cast irons
Aluminum
Wood
Ceramic materials
Glass
Composite materials
Materials for energy conservation in buildings
Construction Materials Regulations
Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM)
Life Cycle Assessment

Extended Syllabus

Review of basics of chemistry and organization of matter: moles, solutions, reactions, stoichiometric balances, exo- and endo-thermal reactions, reversible and irreversible reactions, equilibrium, kinetics, pH, acid-base systems, hydrolysis, electrochemical systems and oxidation. Chemical and physical bonds. States of matter. Crystalline and amorphous solids. Crystalline lattices. Defects of solids (point, linear, surface, volume).
Generalities on Building Materials (classifications, history, meaning of sustainability).
Binders and cements (focus on Portland): airborne and hydraulic binders. Hydration, setting and hardening, curing. Pastes, mortars and concretes. Scheme of production of binders.
Airborne binders. Gypsum production: raw materials and transformations during firing.
Hydration of gypsum: setting and hardening mechanisms.
Characteristics of gypsum and its main fields of application.
Production of aerial lime: firing of raw materials, quenching of quicklime. Powdered hydrated lime.
Lime putty: production and curing. Yield in lime putty. Fat and lean lime. Factors affecting the yield in fat lime. Role of sand in lime mortars. Setting and hardening of a lime mortar.
Aerial lime as a sustainable material, circularity of production and use of lime.
Hydraulic binders. Portland cement production cycle. Raw materials. Scheme of rotary kilns. Transformations during firing of limestone and clay.
Clinker composition: aluminates and calcium silicates. Fineness of a cement: particle size distribution and specific surface area.
Hydration of calcium aluminates. Setting mechanism of cement.
Gypsum as a grip adjuster. Primary hettringite. Optimization of the gypsum/clinker ratio. Hydration of calcium silicates. Characteristics of the cement gel. Mechanism of cement curing. Portlandite.
Development of mechanical strengths. Heat of hydration of cement.
Portland. Problems inherent in large structures.
Porosity of hydrated cement paste. Porosity of cement gel.
Capillary porosity. Macroporosity.
Relationship between capillary porosity, degree of hydration and ratio of water/cement. Powers' formula: relationship between capillary porosity and
compressive strength. Mixing cements. Types of additions.
Minerals: pozzolanic and blast furnace. Pozzolanic activity. Description of the main materials with pozzolanic activity: pozzolan, zeolitic tuffs, ash
coal ash and silica fume. Characteristics and applications of cements pozzolanics.
Composition of blast furnace slag. Latent hydraulic properties.
Activation of slag. Characteristics and applications of cements of blast furnace. Natural, industrial and pozzolanic hydraulic lime:
Production, characteristics and applications. Cement standard UNI EN 197-1. Cement types and strength classes.
Other components of concrete: water, aggregates and admixtures.
Characteristics of concrete mixing water. Aggregates: origin and functions. Characteristics of aggregates: size, shape, porosity and density. Concrete additives: fluidizers, accelerators, retarders,
aerating agents. Special concretes. High performance concretes (HPC).
Lightweight concretes (LWC). Self-compacting concretes (SCC). Testing of the Abrams cone. Workability classes. Durability and degradation mechanisms
Of concrete. Leaching waters. Freeze/thaw cycles. Sulfate attack. Reinforced concretes (hints). Corrosion of reinforcement due to carbonation and chlorides. Alkali-aggregate reaction.
Elements of mix design. Principles of mix design. Examples of mix design.
Steels and cast irons. Ferrous and nonferrous metallic materials. Notes on iron. Role of carbon
On the strength of steels. Definition of steel and cast iron. Solid substitutional and interstitial solutions. Intermetallic compounds. Mechanism of solidification of a metal. Nucleation and growth. Fine- or coarse-grained crystals.
Polymorphism of iron and solubility of C in Fe. Interstitial solid solutions: ferrite and Austenite. Regular and irregular octahedral lacunae.
Cooling of steels: equilibrium and non-equilibrium microstructures.
Displacement transformation from Fe-γ to Fe-α.
Intermetallic compounds: cementite. Structural constituents: lamellar pearlite.
Martensite: mechanism of formation and mechanical properties. Notes on the ferro-cementite state diagram. Notes on the production of steels by primary steelmaking. Blast furnace: description and operation.
Cast iron and blast furnace slag. Refining of cast iron.
Strengthening treatments of steels. Mechanical treatments: obstacles to the movement of dislocations. Heat treatments: annealing, normalization, hardening. Austenitic temperature. Tempering media.
Tempering. Sorbite. Surface hardening. Thermochemical treatments: cementation and nitriding. Classification (UNI EN 10020) and designation (UNI EN 10027) of steels.
Corrosion in metals: galvanic couples, types of corrosion found, active and passive corrosion prevention methods.
Classification of steels: quality requirements, chemical composition and applications. Carbon steels and alloy and unalloyed steels. Construction steels construction for general use. Steels for prestressed concrete.
Designation of steels: symbolic and numerical designation.
Aluminum and light alloys. Anodized aluminum. Copper and its alloys. The copper patinas. Uses of copper in construction.
Ceramic materials: Overview of traditional ceramic materials.
Introduction to traditional ceramic materials. Definition and classification. Production cycle of ceramics. Raw materials: clays, smags, fluxes, complementary materials. The structure of clays. Process methods.
Wood: general characteristics, essences, orthotropicity, defects. Wood structure, fibers, hygroscopicity. Cracks.Service classes, Viscosity. Fire resistance, durability. Main types of wood species for construction.
Glasses: Historical background, general properties, raw materials and additives, manufacturing processes. Physical properties (focus on glass transition). Lattice forming and modifying systems, heat and thermochemical treatments of glass.
Composite materials: generalities, notions of matrix and reinforcement. Types of reinforcement geometry. Types of reinforcement: glass fibers, carbon fibers, Kevlar. Laminates in general and XLAM.
Minimum Environmental Criteria (CAM): generalities. Green Public Procurement. CAM definition guidelines. Pros and cons.
Life Cycle Assessment: generalities. The four phases of the LCA: Goal & Scope Definition, Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) Analysis, Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA), Interpretation of results and final report writing. Limitations of LCA and prospects for development.

Recommended Bibliography

Michael F. Ashby - D R H Jones Engineering Materials 1,: An Introduction to Properties, Applications and Design.

Michael F. Ashby - D R H Jones Engineering Materials 2: An Introduction to Microstructures, Processing and Design

Donald R. Askeland The Science and Engineering of Materials

James E. Gordon La scienza dei materiali resistenti

Slides of the course

Teaching Methods

If possible, live classes; if not (due to COVID) online classes via Teams

Evaluation methods

Verification of learning:

- If the COVID situation allows:
live written exams, plus possible oral exams for students slightly below the 18 mark, or who wants to increase their mark after the written exam(s).
In more detail, there will be two pathways:
a) three partial exams, each one focusing on a partial part of the course program, with multiple choice questions; the students that will have received marks ≥18 in all the three partial exams will have the choice to keep the average mark of the three partial exams without further verification, or to have an integrative oral exam for receiving a higher mark: the students with average mark between 14 and 17 will have to undergo the oral exam anyway; the students who will not have held all the three partial exams will have to undergo to the b) pathway. The partial exams will be held only during the course (not after the end of the classes period).
b) one single written exam, dealing with the whole course program: with a mark ≥ 18 it will be possible to record the exam with that mark, or to undergo an oral exam to increase the final mark, at the choice of the student; with the mark between 14 and 17 the student will have to undergo the oral exam; with marks <14, the exam is failed.
- If the COVID situation does not allow to hold live exams, the foreseen partial written exams and/or final written exam and the related oral ones will be held in online mode, via Microsoft Teams, with the same guidelines above depicted for the live exams.

Contacts/More Information

Students reception is scheduled on wednesday, from 9.00 to 11.00, via previous email communications. It is also possible to hold students reception on other days/times, again via previous email exchanges and agreements.

Università degli Studi
"G. d'Annunzio"

Chieti - Pescara

Aree