TOPIC 1: INTRODUCTION TO

ENGINEERING MATERIAL
AND THEIR EFFECTIVE USE

COURSE OUTCOMES & PROGRAM OUTCOMES

LEARNING OUTCOMES
CONTENTS

CEMENT & CONCRETE

REINFORCING & STRUCTURAL STEEL

WOOD

STRUCTURAL CLAY & CONCRETE UNITS

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 Course Outcomes

This chapter address CO1:PO1

CO1 : Apply the basic science and engineering

fundamentals to properties of construction
materials and analyze their properties.

PO1: Ability to acquire and apply basic knowledge

and science, mathematics and engineering

Learning Outcomes

List out types of civil engineering materials and describe

their effective use.

Relate the applications of the materials in practice

Discuss the factors influencing or criteria for material

selection for civil engineering applications

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Assessment Breakdowns :
• Final Examination 60%
• Practical Test 1 15%
• Practical Test 2 15%
• Laboratory Report 10%
Total 100%

Recommended text & references:

• Mamlouk, M. S. and Zaniewski, J. P. (2011). Materials for Civil and Construction
Engineers (3rd ed.). Pearson. (Recommended Text)
• Amsterdam, V.E. (2013). Construction materials for civil engineering (2nd ed.) Juta
and Co. Ltd.
• Hassan, S.D. (2006). Civil engineering materials and their testing. Alpha Science
International Limited.
• Chandigarh, Ttti. (2006). Civil engineering materials (13th ed.) McGraw-Hill Education.
• Varghese, P.C. (2005). Building materials. Prentice Hall.
• Taylor, C.D. (2002). Materials in construction principles, practice and performance.
Pearson Education Limited.
• Somayaji S. (2001). Civil Engineering Materials (2nd ed.). Prentice Hall

Introduction to Civil Engineering

Materials & Their Effective Use

BITUMEN &
WOOD
BITUMINIOUS
MATERIALS

Cement &
TYPE OF Concrete
ENGINEERING
MATERIALS

REINFORCING STRUCTURAL
& STRUCTURAL CLAY &
STEELS CONCRETE
UNITS

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 INTRODUCTION
 Basically, materials are the substance or substances out
of which a thing is or can be made.
 In civil engineering, materials are employed to design
and build structures such as:
a) Road
b) Bridge
c) Housing
d) Dam
e) High –rise building
f) Retaining walls
g) foundations
h) waterfront construction
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Example of Civil Engineering Structures

Retaining structures

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 Great Pyramid of Giza, the tallest building in the
world for over 3800 years

Burj Khalifa- the highest building in the world

(150 stories, 830 m).

CEMENT & CONCRETE

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 CEMENT &&CONCRETE
CEMENT CONCRETE(CONT)

Most common construction material used in

construction project.

Sometimes admixture are required for specific

purposes.(Enhance concrete properties)

Have several types of cement depend to their

functions.

Concrete is a mixing of
cement, aggregates, sand and
water.

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 Aggregates contribute 70% of total strength of concrete.

 The mixing of water in concrete mix is important to generate heat when
react with cement to perform hydration process (Cement + Water =
Hydration process)
 All aggregates component will be bind together by hydration process
 Admixture is an additional substance to concrete mix. The uses of
admixture in concrete are to change the properties of concrete
according to construction needs.

+ + +
Concrete
cement Course aggregate Fine aggregate (sand) water
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TYPES OF CEMENT

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CONCRETE MIX

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 CONCRETE

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INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS

Concrete as a Construction Material

a) Sport complex/Stadium b) Box girder of the LRT

c) Bridge d) High-rise building

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INSPIRING CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE MINDS
 CONCRETE CRACK

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ULTRASONIC PULSE VELOCITY TEST (UPV)

REBOUND HAMMER TEST

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 CONCRETE FAILURES

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STEEL
 Rebar (short for reinforcing
bar) is a common steel bar
or mesh of steel wires
commonly used as a tension
device in reinforced
concrete (RC) and
reinforced masonry
structures, to strengthen
and hold the concrete in
compression.

 The surface of the rebar may

be patterned to form a better
bond with the concrete. It is
also known as reinforcing
steel and reinforcement
steel
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 STEEL (CONT)

Categorized into:
a) High yield steel
b) Mild yield steel
 Structural steel is a steel construction material, formed
with specific shape/profile, and certain standards of
chemical composition and mechanical properties.

 Structural steel shape, size, strength, storage etc is

regulated in most industrialized countries.

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 The unique of steel

a) High stiffness
b) High tensile strength
c) Ability to be formed into plate, sections and wire
d) Weldability
e) Electrical conductivity and thermal

 Main disadvantage of steel is corrosion and need to be protected against

corrosion agents.
 Product of steel are beam, column, and so on.

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 Application of Steel in Construction

Forth Railway Bridge (Scotland) is the world’s first

major steel bridge (completed on 4 March 1890)

Transmission steel tower

a) PetronasTwin Tower -Built from Jan

1992 b) Combination of steel and glass
and completed in 1998. 23

Advantages & Disadvantages of Steel

Advantages:
1. Very strong in tension
2. Ductility. steel can undergo large plastic deformation before failure,
thus providing a large reserve strength.
3. Steel is highly suitable for prefabrication and mass production.
4. Steel can be reused after a structure is disassembled.

Disadvantage

1) Corrosion - susceptibility to corrosion

2) Steel structures may be more costly than other types of structures.
3) Low fire resistant - loss of strength in fire although it can be
protected by paint.
4) Buckling and high deformation due to small sizes of members

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 TIMBER & WOOD

 Traditional material used in Malaysia.

 The appearance normally extremely beautiful after properly been
treated and some process.
 Can be divided into 2 categories :
a) Hardwood (e.g. Chengal, Kapur, Jelutong)
b) Softwood (e.g Damar minyak, Podo, Sempilor)
 Determine by physical appearance and geological factor.

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Anatomy Of Wood

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 TIMBER AND WOOD (CONT)

 Structure of wood can be divided into 5 layers:

a) Bark
b) Cambium
c) Sap wood
d) Heart wood
e) Pith

 Wood must be preserve and treated before been used

to overcome all the problem occurs by its enemies
(insects).

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Wooden House

Wooden Roller Coaster

Roofing for Warehouse

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 Advantages & Disadvantages of Timber & Wood

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES

1. Timber provides for flexibility of 1. Shrinkage and swelling - it will

design, and allows modifications
and tweaks to layout during the
construction process.
2. Wood is a lower cost raw
material than steel.
3. Wood is 400 times better as a
thermal insulator than steel and
14 times better than concrete.
4. Wood also acts as humidity
regulator, absorbing moisture
when humid and desorbing
moisture when the air is dry.
absorb surrounding
condensable vapours and
loses moisture to air below the
fibre saturation point.
2. Fungi - It is necessary to give
some short information about
fungi agents to take measures
against the wood
deterioration.
3. Fire - it easily catches fire.
4. Insects - they cause to lumber
and wood in service.

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STRUCTURAL CLAY BRICKS

 Brick a moulded rectangular block of clay baked by the sun or in

a kiln until hard and used as a building and paving material.
 Also refer as a small unit of building materials and normally
bonded each other with mortar.
 Mortar is a bonding agents comprising of cement, aggregate and
water which is filled between bricks.

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 W14
STRUCTURAL CLAY BRICKS (CONT)

 Basically masonry units can be divided into 2 categories :

a) Solid

b) Hollow

 The examples of solid section is brick and for hollow section is concrete block.
Normally block is bigger than brick.

 Several types of bricks – clay bricks, sand bricks and calcium silicate bricks.

 The size of unit bricks is small, normally 4 inches wide and twice as long.

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STRUCTURAL CLAY BRICKS (CONT)

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 Applications of clay bricks

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Applications of clay bricks (Cont.)

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 FACTORS CHOOSING CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS

# A highly durable materials may provide the most sustainable solutions if it reduces
maintenance or replacement requirements but materials should also be appropriate to
DURABILITY
the expected life of the building

# Cost considerations must include the initial cost of purchase and the life cycle
Cost costs of materials.
# Life cycle costs include maintenance, replacement, demolition and disposal

# Select materials and systems for ease of construction and installations.

Time # Complicated installations with close tolerances can result in greater wastage or
even rework & more time being required.

Material # Important in order to ensure each material chosen has fulfilled the entire
Properties
requirement in terms of physical, chemical & mechanical properties.

Availability # Long delivery lead-in-times must be allowed for as delays may cause project hold-
ups and cost and energy losses.

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Properties of engineering materials

• Material for engineering applications are selected so as to perform satisfactorily during service,
e.g.:

The material for highway bridge should possess

adequate strength, rough surface, and sufficient
rigidity.

A water retaining structure would be build with

a material that is impermeable, crack free,
strong, and does not react with water.

A road surface needs such materials that show little

movement under the impact loads, water resistant,
and easy to repair.

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 Propertiesof
Properties of engineering
engineering materials
materials

 Performance requirements, or property specification, are not

the same for all structures or structural materials.

 What is expected of a material used for the construction of

liquid retaining structure are not the same as that chosen for
a pavement

 To evaluate the performance characteristics of engineering

materials and to assist and engineer in the selection of the
most appropriate and economical material for a particular
application, we need to study the properties of the materials
of construction.

 The common properties of engineering materials are

grouped under three major headings:
i. Physical properties
ii. Mechanical properties
iii. Chemical properties
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Physical properties

• Physical properties are those derived from the properties matter or

attribute to the physical structure
• Physical properties are helpful in evaluating a material in terms of
appearance, weight, permeability and water retention of a structure.

specific
moisture gravity Density
content

Physical
void Properties permeability
content
/ratio

Structure
porosity (micro or
macro)

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 Density

 Degree of compactness of a substance. It is the ratio

of object mass to its volume (kg/m³). Since most
design is limited to size and/or weight, density plays
important role.

ρ = m/v
Where : ρ = density
m = mass
v = volume
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Porosity
 It is property of being porous, void fraction, empty spaces in materials.
Able to absorb fluids.
 Porosity in soil, porosity of surface soil typically decreases as particle size
increases.
 Porosity in aggregate, if aggregate with high porosity will tend to produce a
less durability of concrete.

How to determine the Porosity?

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 Water absorption

 The process by which water is absorbed. The

amount of water absorbed under specific
conditions, usually expressed as percentage of
the dry weight of the material.

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Void Ratio

 It is the ratio of void volume to solid volume. It is

expressed in a decimal value.
 Relationship between porosity, n and void ratio, e is
given below:

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 Moisture content

 It is the quantity of water contained in a material,

such as soil (called soil moisture), rock, ceramics, or
wood on a volumetric or gravimetric basis.

 The property is used in a wide range of scientific

and technical areas, and is expressed as a ratio,
which can range from 0 (completely dry) to the
value of the materials' porosity at saturation.

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Specific Gravity

 It is the ratio of the density (mass of a unit volume) of a

substance to the density of a given reference material.
Specific gravity usually means relative density with respect to
water.

Specific gravity (S.G) = ρmaterial / ρwater@4°C

 At approx. 4oC (39.2oF) pure water has it's highest density
1000 kg/m3
 The term "relative density" is often preferred in modern
scientific usage.
 E.g. mercury has a specific gravity of 13.56, so it is 13.56
times as dense as water.

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 Permeability
 It is a measure of the ability of a material (such as rocks) to
transmit fluids. It is also refer to quality of material that allow
liquid or gases to pass through it.

 Factor effecting the permeability of material:

a) Particle size and shape
b) Arrangement of particle
c) Density
d) Composition
e) Consolidation pressure
f) Presence of air or gas

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Hardness
 Property of being rigid, resistant to pressure and not easily
scratched. Defined by Mohs scale (ability to resist scratch).

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 Soundness

 Soundness is the ability to resist change of volume due to

change of physical condition.
 These physical conditions include freezing and thawing,
temperature change, alternative change of drying and wetting
in normal condition and alternative change of drying and
wetting in salt water.

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Mechanical properties

 Mechanical properties measure the resistance of a material to

applied loads or forces.
 Some reflect the strength of material, whereas others measure the
deformation capacity or stiffness.
 Strength is a measure of the maximum load per unit area, and can
be in relation to:
 Tension
 Compression
 Shear
 Flexure
 Torsion
 Impact
 If we compare the physical strength of one individual with the
emotional strength of another, we know that the two “strengths” are
not the same and that the comparison is inappropriate.
 The same reasoning can be applied when describing the strength of
material; it is important to specify the type of strength.

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 Strength

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Tension

 It is a force related to the stretching of an object (the

opposite of compression).

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 Compression

 It is the capacity of a material to withstand loads tending to

reduce size. It can be measured by plotting applied force
against deformation in a testing machine.

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Shear

 The deformation of a material substance in which parallel

internal surfaces slide past one another.

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 Flexure

 It is also known as modulus of rupture, bend strength, or

fracture strength a mechanical parameter for brittle material,
 It is defined as a material's ability to resist deformation under
load.

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Torsion

 It is the twisting of an object due to an applied torque. It is

expressed in newton-metres (Nm).
 The stress or deformation caused when one end of an object is
twisted in one direction and the other end is held motionless
or twisted in the opposite direction.

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 55

Ductility & Brittleness

 Stress-strain relations of a material shall reveal how the material deforms
when subjected to applied force.
 Materials that do not undergo plastic deformation prior to failure, such as
concrete, are said to be brittle.
 Materials that display appreciable plastic deformation, such as mild steel,
are ductile.

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 Toughness

 The area under a force-deformation curve is the work done on the specimen.
This concept is useful, for it tells us the energy that is required to deform or
fracture the material.
 Resilience: the capacity of a material to absorb energy within the elastic range.
 Toughness: the ability of a material to absorb energy until fracture.

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Chemicals properties

 Chemical properties are those pertaining to the

composition and potential reaction of material.

 The compound of composition, such as oxides and

carbonates, describe the chemical nature of the material,
and the way it would behave in a certain environment.

 For example, by reviewing the proportions of principle

compounds in various cements, we will be able to choose
the right type of cement for a particular application.

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 DETERIORATION OF CONCRETE STRUCTURE

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Causes of deterioration of concrete

structure
Deterioration defects and/or failure of concrete structures could occur due to
many causes such as due to physical, mechanical and chemical actions.

Physical actions:

• Exposure to extreme temperature

» Fire damage
» Frost action (freeze-thaw action)
• Volume changes due to temperature & humidity gradient
• Differences in thermal coefficients between aggregate and
cement paste matrix.

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 Causes of deterioration of concrete
structure (cont.)
Mechanical actions: Chemical actions :

• Abrasion • Sulphate attack

• Impact (handling, • Alkali aggregate reaction
construction, vehicular, etc.) (Alkali-silica reaction & alkali-
• Erosion carbonate reaction)
• Cavitation • Carbonation
• Overloading and fatigue • Chloride attack
(cyclic loading) • Corrosion of reinforcement
• Blast • Acid attack (surface erosion
by acid rain, aggressive
chemicals in industrial
environment), etc.

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Materials Performances and Its

Measurement
Structural safety
• The ability to withstand stresses resulting from gravity, wind, thermal
or moisture movement or other sources.

Strength Ability to resist failure or excessive deformation under stress.

Stiffness Deformation which is recovered when the load is removed

Toughness

Creep Effect of long-term stress

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 Materials Performances and Its
Measurement
There should be no risk to health due to chemical or physical
Health/Safety effects of the material both during and after construction.

The material must behave acceptability in resisting fire

spread, release of dangerous substances in fire & retaining
Fire satisfactory structural stability.

The material should fulfill the above performance criteria as

Durability required for the planned lifetime of the building

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Specification & Standards

• Almost invariably centered around accepted standards which

provide a simple, convenient means of specifying
performance levels.

• Measure performance in a carefully defined reproducible

manner.

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 British Standard
• began to produced from the early 20th century
• a committee representing manufacturers, researchers,
users and government organization.
• now operate only on a care & maintenance basic
• eventually be replaced by their European Codes
European Codes & Standards

• Provide a mechanism by which construction products &

material can be traded & used freely throughout the
European Common Market
• Produced by Technical Committee of the European
Committee for Standardization

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