DEBEREMARKOS UNIVERSITY

(BUREI CAMPUS)
BSc Program in Construction
Technology and
Management

Construction Materials
By : Yigzaw A.

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 1.INTRODUCTION
MATERIALS AND TYPES
• Material: a substance or thing from which some thing else
can be made. Examples:
Cement,brick,aluminium,soil,water…

•In Engineering, materials are employed to design and build

structures or elements.

•Material science examines why’s and how's of materials,

making it Possible to advance the development of new
materials.

•Material Engineering refers to the understanding and review

of properties and uses of materials commonly used in
engineering 2
 Material Types
Amorphous Materials:
Materials in which atoms are arranged randomly.
or those that do not have crystalline structure.
Are strong but brittle
Examples: soot(impure carbon),glass
Crystalline materials can be converted in to an amorphous
material by quenching.
i.e. heating the material to its melting temperature followed by
rapid cooling so that the material has no time to return to its
crystalline arrangement

Brittle Materials: Brittleness denotes relatively little or no

elongation or increase in length at fracture.
Examples: cast iron
concrete
Glass…

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Building Materials: Materials that are used in the
building industry such as cement, steel, bricks, plastics,
wood, glass etc...

Cementitious materials: Materials in which the

principal binder is Portland cement or another type of
hydraulic cements .
Ceramic Materials:
…The word ceramic comes from Greek, meaning
“burned earth”.
…ceramic materials are nonmetallic materials based on
clay(silicate mineral)
…They are usually crystalline and brittle ,do not conduct
electricity very well ,and can withstand high
temperatures.
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 Construction Materials: any material used in
construction industry.
Examples: cement , soil, aggregates,asphalt,etc

 Ductile Materials:
 Ductility is the property that makes the material to be drawn
out or stretched to a considerable extent before rupture .
 It is usually measured as the percentage of elongation
(increase in length) or as the percentage of the reduction
in the cross-sectional area ,when the material is subjected
to tension.
 Examples :steel ,aluminum etc

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 Elastic Materials:
 Elasticity is the ability of a material to deform under load
without a permanent set or deformation up on release of the
load.
 It can also be defined as that property of material by virtue
of which deformations from the load or stress disappear
after removal of the load.
 A perfectly elastic material recover completely its original
shape and dimensions when loads are removed.
 None of the materials remain perfectly elastic throughout the
range of stress leading up to failure.
 But all exhibit elastic properties up to some stress level.
 An elastic material behaves in elastically when the stresses
exceeds the elastic limit, beyond which changes in
volume ,shape are permanent.
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 Crystalline materials: Materials in which atoms
are arranged in a discernible repeated pattern in
three dimensions.
 Thermoplastic Materials: Materials that turn
plastic (soft)when subjected to heat. e.g.
petroleum pitch

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2.Classification & Properties of Materials
2.1 CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIALS

 Materials that are used for construction

purpose can be broadly classified based on
their:
Metallic Property
Physical nature
Mode of production

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Classification Based on Metallic Property
1.Metallic : in general metals can be classified in
to :Ferrous and Non-ferrous.
A. Ferrous: is the metal in which the principal element is
iron.
Examples:steel,wrought iron & cast iron
B. Non-ferrous : is the metal in which the principal element
is not iron
Examples: copper,aluminium,lead,zinc,etc

2.Non metallic:
Examples;concrete,timber,stone,lime etc.

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Classification Based on Physical Nature of Materials

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 Classification Based on Mode of Production

a) Naturally Occurring Materials

.stone
.timber
b) Industrially produced materials
.Cement
.glass
C) Materials produced at construction site
.Concrete
.mortar
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2.2 Properties of Materials

Properties Which relate to materials are:

1. Physical properties
 Density & specific gravity
 Thermal property
 Acoustic /sound permeability
 Fire resistance
 Porosity

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2, Chemical properties
 Corrosion Resistance
 Combustibility
 Toxicity
 Decay Resistance

3.Mechanical Properties
The resistance of material to:
 The action of external static forces (compressive, tensile,
bending, shear, torsion strength)

 The action of dynamic external forces(impact and

vibratory loads)

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Behavior of materials under load

Application of external force on solid body in

equilibrium results in:

….Internal resisting forces are developed in the body

which balances the externally applied force.

….The body is deformed to varying degree

….The intensity of internal force is stress and the

deformation per unit is strain.
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Depending on the arrangement & direction of the external
forces, the stress produced in the body may be :
 Tensile
 Compressive
 Shear
 Bending
 Torsion
 Various combinations of the above.

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2.3 Testing of Materials for Mechanical Properties
..Mechanical properties are conducted to examine the
performance of construction materials under the action of
external forces.
..Mechanical tests are classified :
A. With reference to the arrangement & direction
of the external forces;
 Tension Test
 Specimen under tension test is subjected to an axial tensile force
 Tensile stress is developed on cross-sectional area perpendicular
to the line of action of the force.
 The specimen increase in length.

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 Compression Test
 Specimen is subjected to an axial compressive force
 Compressive stress is produced.
 The specimen decrease in length.
 Shear test
In this test, shearing stress is determined on the x-sectional area
parallel to the line of action of the external forces.
 Bending Test.
 Specimen is subjected to forces that give rise to bending moments
 The resulting stresses are compressive on one side of the neutral axis &
tensile on the other side.
 Shear stress exist throughout the beam.
 Torsion Test
 This test is conducted to determine the shearing strength of a material
 The specimens for torsion test are generally cylindrical in shape.

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B. With reference to the rate & duration of the load
application.
 Static Tests
 Made with gradually increasing load.
eg. ordinary tests in tension & compression etc.
 Dynamic Tests
 Made with suddenly applied loads.

 Wear Tests
 Made to determine the resistance to abrasion & impact.

 Long time Tests

 These are made with the loads applied to the object for long period of time.

 Fatigue Tests
 These tests are made with fluctuating stresses repeated a large number of
times.

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C.With Reference to the effect on the specimen.

Destructive Test
 The specimens are either crushed or ruptured and made useless at the
end of the tests.
 Tests conducted on the following materials are best examples
..Ultimate strength of steel
..Compressive strength of concrete

Non-destructive Tests
 Are used to test the strength of members of existing structures without
affecting their performance.
 Example: hammer test

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2.4 Stress-Strain Properties in Simple Tension Test
 In standard conventional tension test, specimen is subjected
to a gradually increasing axial tensile force ‘P’ by means of
testing machine.
 At various increments of load ,the change in length ∆L of the
specimen is measured.
∆L=L-Lo where L= new length
Lo =original length
 It is assumed that the stress is uniformly distributed for all
points on each x-section. This stress is computed as follow;
σt =p/Ao where σt =tensile stress
Ao=X-sectional area
P= applied load

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 The uniform stress will produce a uniform elongation
∆L.the elongation per unit length is strain &
expressed as: ε= ∆L / Lo Where ε =strain
∆L=elongation
Lo=original length of the specimen

with the values of strain & stress known for various

tensile loads ,a diagram showing the relation between
stress & strain ,called stress-strain diagram can be plotted

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 d
c
Stress b
(σt ) a Plastic range

ge
an
cr
st i
Ela

Strain(ε )
Fig 1. Stress-strain diagram for ductile materials

a= proportional limit c=Yield strength

b=elastic limit d= ultimate strength

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 Properties in the elastic range
 The parameters which are used to describe the mechanical
properties of a material in the elastic range are:
 proportional limit,
 elastic limit,
 modulus of elasticity, stiffness etc

1.Proportional Limit: is the greatest stress which a material is capable

of withstanding without deviation from the law of proportionality of stress
to strain.
(point a of fig 1)
2.Elastic Limit: is the greatest stress which a material is capable of
withstanding without a permanent deformation remaining up on the
release of stress.
(point b of fig 1)
3.Yield Point :is the stress at which there occurs a considerable
increase in strain without an increase in stress. Only ductile materials
have both lower & upper yield points. (point c of fig 1)
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4.Modulus of Elasticity(young’s modulus)

 is the slope of the initial linear part of stress-strain diagram.

 The greater the modulus of elasticity, the smaller the elastic
strain resulting from the application of a given values.

Methods of determining modulus of elasticity, E.

i. For ductile materials, with linear stress – strain portion,

E= ∆ σt ∕ ∆ ε

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 ii. For materials with non-linear stress-strain
curves
 The slope of the stress- strain curve varies and the modulus
of elasticity cannot be readily determined.
 The following three methods are employed to define E:

a. Initial-Tangent modulus: The slope of the stress –strain

curve at the origin which has a value of E 1 =tanф1
Stress
(σt )

ф1

Strain(ε )

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b. Secant modulus : the slope of the line joining the origin
and the selected point on the stress-strain curve with the
value of E 2 =tanф2

Stress
(σt )

ф2
Strain(ε )

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c. Tangent modulus: The slope of the tangent to the stress –
strain curve at the selected point with the value of E 3 =tanф3

Stress
ф3
(σt )

Strain(ε )

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5.Stiffness

is the measure of the ability of material to resist deformation.
 The higher the modulus of elasticity, the stiffer the material.
 A material has a higher stiffness value when its deformation in the
elastic range is relatively small.
 Comparing steel alloys with E=210Gpa and aluminium alloys with
E=70Gpa,the steel alloys are about three times as stiff as the aluminium
alloys i.e steel alloys will deform about one-third as much as aluminium
alloys for the same stress.

6.Poisson’s Ratio
 Is the ratio of the unit deformations or strains in transverse direction to
the longitudinal direction within proportional limit.
µ= ε’∕ ε where ε’ = transverse strain, ε =longitudinal strain
 Poisson’s ratio is a measure of the stiffness of the material in the
direction at right angle to applied load.

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 Properties for the plastic range
 The characteristic at the plastic range is that there is a
permanent deformation in the stressed body after complete
removal of the load.
 The parameters which are used to describe the mechanical
properties for the plastic range are; ultimate strength,
ductility and toughness.
 1.Ultimate Strength:-is the maximum strength a
material can possibly resist before failure.
 Depending on the stress strain relationship of a particular
material, the plastic strength will correspond to the
ultimate strength or to the fracture(rupture)strength.

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Stress
(σt )

Stress
Fracture Ultimate (σt ) Ultimate or fracture
strength strength strength

Strain(ε )
Strain(ε )

Ductile material Brittle material

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2.Ductility:-
 represents its ability to deform in the plastic range.
 Ductile materials show relatively higher plastic deformation, i.e
they are capable of being drawn-out ,before rupture occurs.
 Ductility is measured by the percentage elongation or percentage
reduction in area.
De=Lf –Lo *100 Da =Ao-Af *100
Lo Ao

3.Toughness
 Is the ability of material to absorb energy in the plastic range.
 A material with high toughness can absorb high values of strain
energy in the plastic range.

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Thank you!!

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