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 | |
Paints - Identification | UV/Vis/NIR/ SWIR | Medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscripts (10th-16th century) in the collection of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, UK | |
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 | |
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 | |
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) | |
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) | |
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 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 | |
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 | |
Cement manufacture - on-line particle sizing | LD | Cement grains | |
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 | |
Clinker - crystalline phase analysis | XRD | Clinker phases, slag, fly ash, pozzolan | |
Clinker - sample preparation for XRD | XRD | Clinker: Alite, Belite, Free Lime (CaO), Ferrite, Aluminate, | |
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 | |
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, | |
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 | |
Concrete - porosity measurement | CT | Porous Concrete | |
Fly ash - routine elemental analysis | XRF | Coal fly ash, calcium hydroxide (from Lime, or Portland cement) | |
Fly ash and slag additives - crystalline phase analysis | XRD | Replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) by partially supplementing Clinker with fly ash and slag | |
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 |
Abbreviations explained
Our products and technologies are described on the Products pages. Below you can find a quick reference to the properties measured by our instruments, together with the measurement name and its abbreviation. Click on each method to find out more about it!
Abbreviation | Method Name | Instrument(s) | Measured Property |
|---|---|---|---|
DLS | Zetasizer | Molecular size, hydrodynamic radius RH, particle size, size distribution, stability, concentration, agglomeration | |
ELS | Zetasizer | Zeta potential, particle charge, suspension stability, protein mobility | |
ITC | MicroCal ITC | Binding affinity, thermodynamics of molecular reactions in solution | |
DSC | Microcal DSC | Denaturing (unfolding) of large molecules, stability of macromolecules | |
GCI | Creoptix WAVEsystem | Real-time binding kinetics and binding affinity, label free with fluidics | |
IMG | Morphologi 4 | Imaging of particles, automated shape and size measurement | |
MDRS | Morphologi 4-ID | Imaging of particles, automated shape and size measurement, chemical identification and contaminant detection | |
LD | Mastersizer
| Particle size, size distribution | |
NTA | NanoSight | Particle size, size distribution, and concentration | |
SEC or GPC | Size exclusion chromatography / | OMNISEC | Molecular size, molecular weight, oligomeric state, polymer or protein size and molecular structure |
SPE | Le Neo
| Fused Bead Sample preparation for XRF, Peroxide solution preparations for ICP, Flux weighing for beadmaking | |
UV/ Vis/ NIR/ SWIR | Ultra-violet / visible / near infra-red / short wave infra-red spectrometry | LabSpec
| Material identification and analysis, moisture, mineral, carbon content. Ground truthing for airborne and satellite spectroscopic techniques. |
PFTNA | CNA | In-line elemental analysis | |
XRD-C | Aeris
| Molecular crystal structure refinement, crystalline phase identification and quantification, crystalline to amorphous ratio, crystallite size analysis | |
XRD-M | Empyrean
| Residual stress, texture | |
XRD-CT | Empyrean | 3D imaging of solids, porosity, and density | |
SAXS | Empyrean | Nanoparticles, size, shape and structure | |
GISAXS | Empyrean | Nanostructured thin films and surfaces | |
HR-XRD | Empyrean
| Thin-films and epitaxial multilayers, composition, strain, thickness, quality | |
XRR | Empyrean
| Thin films and surfaces, film thickness, surface and interface roughness | |
XRF | Epsilon
| Elemental composition, elemental concentration, trace elements, contaminant detection |