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

Explicación de las abreviaturas

Nuestros productos y tecnologías se describen en las Páginas de productos. A continuación, encontrará una referencia rápida de las propiedades medidas por nuestros instrumentos, junto con el nombre de la medición y su abreviatura. Haga clic en cada método para obtener más información.

Abreviatura	Nombre del método	Instrumentos	Propiedad medida
DLS	Dispersión de luz dinámica	Zetasizer	Tamaño molecular, radio hidrodinámico R_H, tamaño de la partícula, distribución del tamaño, estabilidad, concentración, aglomeración
ELS	Dispersión de luz electroforética	Zetasizer	Potencial zeta, carga de partículas, estabilidad de suspensión, movilidad de proteínas
ITC	Calorimetría de titulación isotérmica	MicroCal ITC	Afinidad de unión, termodinámica de reacciones moleculares en solución
DSC	Calorimetría de barrido diferencial	Microcal DSC	Desnaturalización (desplegado) de moléculas grandes, estabilidad de macromoléculas
GCI	Interferometría acoplada de rejilla	Creoptix WAVEsystem	Cinética de unión en tiempo real y afinidad de unión, sin etiquetas con fluídicos
IMG	Análisis automatizado de imágenes	Morphologi 4	Obtención de imágenes de partículas, medición automatizada de formas y tamaños
MDRS	Espectroscopia Raman dirigida morfológicamente	Morphologi 4-ID	Obtención de imágenes de partículas, medición automatizada de formas y tamaños, identificación química y detección de contaminantes
LD	Difracción láser	Mastersizer Spraytec Insitec Parsum	Tamaño de las partículas, distribución del tamaño
NTA	Análisis de seguimiento de nanopartículas	NanoSight	Tamaño de las partículas, distribución del tamaño y concentración
SEC o GPC	Cromatografía por exclusión de tamaño / Cromatografía por permeación de gel	OMNISEC	Tamaño molecular, peso molecular, estado oligomérico, tamaño y estructura molecular de polímeros o proteínas
SPE	Preparación de muestras por fusión	Le Neo LeDoser Eagon 2 El OxAdvanced M4 rFusion	Preparación de muestras como perlas fusionadas para FRX, preparaciones de solución de peróxido para ICP, pesaje de fundente para la fabricación de perlas
UV/Vis/NIR/ SWIR	Espectrometría infrarroja de onda corta ultravioleta/visible/con infrarrojo cercano	LabSpec FieldSpec TerraSpec QualitySpec	Identificación y análisis de materiales, humedad, minerales, contenido de carbono. Verificación del terreno para técnicas espectroscópicas transportadas por el aire y por satélite.
PFTNA	Activación de neutrones térmicos rápida a pulso	CNA	Análisis elemental en línea
XRD-C	Difracción de rayos X (cristalografía)	Aeris Empyrean	Refinamiento de la estructura cristalina molecular, identificación y cuantificación de la fase cristalina, relación cristalino a amorfo, análisis del tamaño de la cristalización
XRD-M	Difracción de rayos X (microestructura)	Empyrean X’Pert³ MRD(XL)	Tensión residual, textura
XRD-CT	Imágenes de absorción de rayos X por tomografía computarizada	Empyrean	Imágenes en 3D de sólidos, porosidad y densidad
SAXS	Dispersión de rayos X con ángulo pequeño	Empyrean	Nanopartículas, tamaño, forma y estructura
GISAXS	Dispersión de rayos X con ángulo pequeño e incidencia por roce	Empyrean	Superficies y películas finas nanoestructuradas
HR-XRD	Difracción de rayos X de alta resolución	Empyrean X’Pert³ MRD(XL)	Películas finas y epitaxiales, composición, deformación, grosor, calidad
XRR	Reflectometría de rayos X	Empyrean X’Pert³ MRD(XL)	Superficies y películas finas, espesor de la película, rugosidad de la superficie y de la interfaz
XRF	Fluorescencia de rayos X	Epsilon Zetium Axios FAST 2830 ZT	Composición elemental, concentración elemental, elementos traza, detección de contaminantes