Civil Engineering, Architecture & Archaeology Solutions

Interested in how our analysis methods can benefit your civil engineering, architecture, or archaeology research? Whether you’re a student, a researcher, or a professor, we’ve put together some links to the most relevant application examples.

The materials researched and analytical equipment used in civil engineering and architecture often overlap with Chemistry and Applied Chemistry, and Materials Science and Engineering – so feel free to check out those pages for more information! Method abbreviations are explained at the bottom of this page.

Archaeological materials

The study of archaeological materials typically includes:

Mineral chemistry for glasses, pottery, and pigments
Metallurgy for coins and metallic artifacts
Knowledge of all types of building materials

Here’s a selection of application notes and articles related to the study of Archaeological materials. Check them out to discover more!

Archaeological Materials	Method	Sample	Application Note Title (Link)
Coins - metal composition	XRF	Archeological coin	Practical small spot mapping. Analysis of an archeological coin using SumXcore technology
Mortar - composition	UV/Vis/NIR/ SWIR	Mortar in walls of Ruins of Pompeii, Italy	Portable Analysis of Ancient Walls in Pompeii, Italy
Paints - Identification	UV/Vis/NIR/ SWIR	Medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts (10th-16th century) in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, UK	Report on the Use of a FieldSpec 4 Spectroradiometer for the Non-Invasive Identification of Artists' Materials on Illuminated Manuscripts
Paints - mineral compositions	XRD	Chemical and mineralogical changes to a wall painting in the St George fresco, Prague, Czech Republic cerussite, plattnerite, lead magnesium carbonate, calcite, hydrocerussite	X-ray micro-diffraction in wall painting research
Paints – mineral compositions	XRD	Study of pigments in a medieval parchment leaf using microdiffraction	Non-destructive, small-scale analysis of cultural heritage objects with Empyrean

Building materials

In order to demonstrate compliance with building regulations and materials standards, both civil engineers and architects must have a strong understanding of their building materials, including:

Materials science
Mechanical properties
Chemistry
Processing requirements

Understanding of pre-manufacturing processes is also an important element in the drive to create building materials with a lower CO₂ footprint.

Take a look at the application notes below for examples of how our solutions can help with this!

Building Materials	Method	Sample	Application Note Title (Link)
Adhesives - resin loading in wood	UV/Vis/NIR/ SWIR	Resin loading in wood, wood adhesives, resin, wax, and moisture in OSB chips	Wood Adhesives Presentation
Architectural marble fillers - particle size	LD	Marble Fillers/ calcium carbonate	Automated marble milling - better product quality, lower energy costs
Asphalt emulsions - particle size, Zeta potential	LD / DLS / ELS	Asphalt emulsions (asphalt cement, water, emulsifier, additives)	Determining the quality of asphalt emulsions using particle size and zeta potential analysis
Cement - accurate elemental analysis	XRF	Cement (SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, MgO, SO3, K2O, Na2O, TiO2, P2O2, ZnO, Mn2O3)	Zetium - Cement analysis using CEMOXI standards
Cement - accurate elemental analysis	XRF	Cement (SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, MgO, SO3, K2O, Na2O, TiO2, P2O2, ZnO, Mn2O3)	Analysis of major and minor elements in cement pressed powders
Cement - elemental analysis compliance with industry norms	XRF	Cement (SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, MgO, SO3, K2O, Na2O, TiO2, P2O2, ZnO, Mn2O3)	Zetium - Compliance made easy ASTM C114-13 norm
Cement - elemental analysis compliance with industry norms	XRF	Cement (SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, MgO, SO3, K2O, Na2O, TiO2, P2O2, ZnO, Mn2O3)	Compliance made easy and faster - ASTM C114-15 norm with SumXcore at 1 kW
Cement - elemental analysis compliance with industry norms	XRF / SPE	Cement (SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, MgO, SO3, K2O, Na2O, TiO2, P2O2, ZnO, Mn2O3)	ASTM C114-15 and ISO 29581-2 compliance for cement fused beads in 10 minutes
Cement - sample preparation and elemental composition	XRF / SPE	SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, MgO, SO3, K2O, Na2O, TiO2, P2O5, ZnO and Mn2O3 in cement	ASTM C114-15 and ISO 29581-2 compliance for cement fused beads
Cement - sample preparation for XRF	SPE	Cement powder, lithium borate	Cement XRF application using a universal borate fusion methodology for ASTM C 114 & ISO/DIS 29581-2 qualification
Cement and Clinker Powders - particle shape and size	MDRS	Clinker and cement powders	Component-specific characterization of cements using Morphologi ID
Cement Blending - mineralogical composition	XRD	Blended cement	Quick mineralogical quantification of blended cement
Cement finishing - particle size	LD	Cement finishing	Reducing the cost of cement production through the use of automated process control
Cement manufacture - CO2 reduction by accurate process control	XRD	Clinker and cement	Quick phase quantification of clinker and cement for environmentally friendly cement production
Cement manufacture - on-line particle sizing	LD	Cement grains	On-line particle sizing and control
Cement manufacture - on-line particle sizing	LD	Cement grains	Castles' on-line analysis- article
Chlorine in Cement - Sample Preparation for XRF	SPE	Chlorine in Cement	Analysis of Chlorine in Cement and Cement Related Materials Using Borate Fusion and XRF Analysis
Chlorine in concrete - concentration	UV/Vis/NIR/ SWIR	Chlorine in Concrete (raw material and bridge constructions)	Determination of chloride ion concentrations in concrete by means of near-infrared spectrometry
Chromium in cement - crystalline phase analysis	XRD	Chromium phases in cement	Measurement of fast reactions. Chromium in cement - measuring the kinetics of lamellar calcium aluminate chromate hydrates
Clinker - crystalline phase analysis	XRD	Clinker phases, slag, fly ash, pozzolan	Cluster analysis
Clinker - sample preparation for XRD	XRD	Clinker: Alite, Belite, Free Lime (CaO), Ferrite, Aluminate,	Sample preparation of clinker
Clinker grinding - particle size	LD	Ground Clinker (Portland Cement, Raw Mix, calcium oxide, silicon oxide, aluminum oxide, ferric oxide and magnesium oxide, clay, limestone + Calcium Sulphate)	Particle size analysis of cement using the technique of laser diffraction
Clinker hydration kinetics - crystalline phase analysis	XRD	Clinker phases, minor phases - process of carbonization and hydration	Transmission geometry for Cement hydration kinetics
Clinker manufacture - polymorph identification	XRD	M1 and M3 Polymorphs of Alite in Clinker	Quantification of the M1 and M3 polymorphs of alite in OPC clinker
Clinker Manufacture, Raw Mix - elemental composition	XRF	Na2O, MgO, Al2O3, SiO2, SO3, Cl, K2O, CaO, TiO2, and Fe2O3 in raw mix	Fast raw mix analysis in compliance with GB/T19140-2003 and GB/T176-2008
Clinker Manufacture, Raw Mix - elemental composition	XRF	MgO, Al2O3, SiO2, SO3, Cl, K2O, CaO, TiO2, and Fe2O3 in raw mix,	Economical raw mix analysis in 5 minutes
Clinker manufacture, Raw Mix - sample preparation for XRF	SPE	Cement powder, lithium borate	Raw materials XRF application for the cement industry using a universal borate fusion methodology
Concrete - crystalline phase analysis, porosity, density	XRD - CT	Concrete	X-ray analysis of concrete: A multi-dimensional investigation using X-ray diffraction and computed tomography
Concrete - porosity measurement	CT	Porous Concrete	CT measurements with GaliPIX^3D
Fly ash - routine elemental analysis	XRF	Coal fly ash, calcium hydroxide (from Lime, or Portland cement)	Zetium - Routine analysis of coal fly ash
Fly ash and slag additives - crystalline phase analysis	XRD	Replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) by partially supplementing Clinker with fly ash and slag	XRD analysis of hydrated cements and cementitious systems
Mortar - elemental composition	XRF	Mortar: Ca, Si, Al, Fe, Na, K, Mg, S, Ti, Sr in Cement Paste	Examine reaction kinetics of mortar about 100 times faster with HiPer small spot mapping

Abkürzungen erklärt

Unsere Produkte und Technologien werden auf den Produktseiten beschrieben. Nachstehend finden Sie eine Kurzübersicht über die von unseren Geräten gemessenen Eigenschaften einschließlich der Messbezeichnung und ihrer Abkürzung. Klicken Sie auf die einzelnen Methoden, um mehr darüber zu erfahren!

Abkürzung	Methodenname	Gerät(e)	Gemessene Eigenschaft
DLS	Dynamische Lichtstreuung	Zetasizer	Molekülgröße, hydrodynamischer Radius R_H, Partikelgröße, Größenverteilung, Stabilität, Konzentration, Agglomeration
ELS	Elektrophoretische Lichtstreuung	Zetasizer	Zetapotenzial, Partikelladung, Suspensionsstabilität, Proteinmobilität
ITC	Isothermische Titrationskalorimetrie	MicroCal ITC	Bindungsaffinität, Thermodynamik molekularer Reaktionen in Lösung
DDK	Dynamische Differenzkalorimetrie	Microcal DSC	Denaturierung (Entfaltung) von großen Molekülen, Stabilität von Makromolekülen
GCI	Gittergekoppelte Interferometrie	Creoptix WAVEsystem	Bindungskinetik und -affinität in Echtzeit, markerfrei mit Fluidik
IMG	Automatisierte Bildanalyse	Morphologi 4	Bildgebung von Partikeln, automatisierte Form- und Größenmessung
MDRS	Morphologically-Directed Raman-Spektroskopie	Morphologi 4-ID	Bildgebung von Partikeln, automatisierte Form- und Größenmessung, chemische Identifizierung und Verunreinigungserkennung
LD	Laserbeugung	Mastersizer Spraytec Insitec Parsum	Partikelgröße, Größenverteilung
NTA	Nanopartikel-Tracking-Analyse (NTA)	NanoSight	Partikelgröße, Größenverteilung und Konzentration
SEC oder GPC	Größenausschluss-Chromatographie/ Gelpermeationschromatographie	OMNISEC	Molekülgröße, Molekulargewicht, oligomerer Zustand, Polymer- oder Proteingröße und Molekularstruktur
SPE	Probenvorbereitung durch Schmelzaufschluss	Le Neo LeDoser Eagon 2 The OxAdvanced M4 rFusion	Schmelztabletten-Probenvorbereitung für RFA, Peroxidlösungszubereitungen für ICP, Flussmittelwägung für die Schmelztablettenherstellung
UV/Vis/NIR/ SWIR	Ultraviolett-/Sichtbares Licht-/Nahinfrarot-/Kurzwellen-Infrarotspektrometrie	LabSpec FieldSpec TerraSpec QualitySpec	Materialerkennung und -analyse, Feuchtigkeit, Mineral- und Kohlenstoffgehalt. Bodenuntersuchungen für luft- und satellitengestützte spektroskopische Verfahren.
PFTNA	Aktivierung mit gepulsten schnellen thermischen Neutronen (Pulsed Fast and Thermal Neutron Activation, PFTNA)	CNA	Inline-Elementaranalyse
XRD-C	Röntgendiffraktion (Kristallographie)	Aeris Empyrean	Verfeinerung der molekularen Kristallstruktur, Identifizierung und Quantifizierung der kristallinen Phase, Verhältnis zwischen kristallin und amorph, Analyse der Kristallitgröße
XRD-M	Röntgendiffraktion (Mikrostruktur)	Empyrean X’Pert³ MRD(XL)	Eigenspannung, Textur
XRD-CT	Röntgenabsorptionsbildgebung durch Computertomographie	Empyrean	3D Bildgebung von Feststoffen, Porosität und Dichte
SAXS	Kleinwinkel-Röntgenstreuung	Empyrean	Nanopartikel, Größe, Form und Struktur
GISAXS	Kleinwinkel-Röntgenstreuung unter streifendem Einfall	Empyrean	Nanostrukturierte Dünnschichten und Oberflächen
HR-XRD	Hochauflösende Röntgenbeugung	Empyrean X’Pert³ MRD(XL)	Dünnschichten und epitaktische Mehrfachschichten, Zusammensetzung, Dehnung, Dicke, Qualität
XRR	Röntgenreflektometrie	Empyrean X’Pert³ MRD(XL)	Dünnschichten und Oberflächen, Schichtdicke, Oberflächen- und Grenzflächenrauheit
RFA	Röntgenfluoreszenz	Epsilon Zetium Axios FAST 2830 ZT	Elementzusammensetzung, Elementkonzentration, Spurenelemente, Verunreinigungserkennung