WSU

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

Construction Materials
By YARED B.(MSc)

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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.

•Materialscience examines why’s and how's of

materials, making it Possible to advance the
development of new materials.

•MaterialEngineering refers to the understanding

and review of properties and uses of materials
commonly used in engineering
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 Material Types
Amorphous Materials:
Materials in which atoms are arranged randomly.
or those that do not have crystalline structure.
Are strong but brittle
Examples: 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 ,brick,plastics,wood,glass

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.
 Itis 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 a 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
 Itis 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
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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

with the values of Lo=original length of the specimen

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,
1.Proportional Limit: is the greatest stress which a material is
 modulus of elasticity, stiffness etc
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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 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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Thank you!!

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