Ice Manual Of Construction Materials, Volumes I And Ii

ice | manuals Chapter 1 doi: 10.1680/mocm.35973.0001 Fundamentals of materials CONTENTS Christopher Hall School of Engineering, University of Edinburgh, UK The long and still visible history of civil engineering shows how materials influence construction practice and design. Modern materials are diverse in composition and in internal microstructure. Broadly, we recognise three major families: metals, ceramics and polymers. Scientifically, material properties are controlled by the atomic, molecular and microstructural organisation, including pore structure. There is increasing emphasis on sustainability in the selection and performance of materials, not least because of the prodigious quantities consumed in civil engineering and building throughout the world. Introduction Materials are at the heart of all branches of engineering. It can be argued – and with not much exaggeration – that engineering is the creative and rational use of materials for practical purposes. Homo faber, man the maker, works with what the material world permits and makes possible. Engineers are better engineers if they have a good understanding of the properties of the materials which they use. In the long past this came from hands-on familiarity rooted in tradition and craft practice. Now the range and variety of materials is so great that this is hardly feasible. The challenge to the engineer is also made greater by the pace at which new materials are being developed. But, at the same time, scientific knowledge of materials – of their composition, behaviour and properties – is advancing rapidly. Science now provides a framework for understanding materials, both new and old. Within this framework we can include all types of materials, thus to some extent unifying the treatment of the metals, ceramics, plastics and composites. This is the discipline of materials science. The purpose of the first two chapters is to describe these generic aspects of materials, emphasising well-defined engineering properties and sketching our scientific understanding of how some of these properties arise. In this chapter we discuss materials from a broad social and historical perspective; and mention two important contingent issues: sustainability, and health and safety. We then describe the composition and internal architecture of materials as a basis for understanding the engineering properties which are the subject of Chapter 2. Evolution and innovation in materials for civil engineering No branch of engineering can provide such a long historical perspective on the significance of materials as civil ICE Manual of Construction Materials # 2009 Institution of Civil Engineers Introduction 1 Evolution and innovation in materials for civil engineering 1 Sustainability of materials 4 Health and safety in materials engineering 5 Types of materials: composition and microstructure 5 The chemistry of materials 7 Composition of materials 7 Porous and cellular materials 12 References 13 Further reading 13 construction. The survival of buildings, bridges and roads from ancient to modern times shows clearly the methods of construction in every era and region, and demonstrates repeatedly