CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS TESTING DEPARTMENT

The department offers physical and chemical testing of soils, aggregates, rock, water, cement, lime, plaster, concrete, concrete products and bituminous materials. It undertakes coring and non-destructive testing of reinforced concrete.

The department's experienced staff undertakes a variety of laboratory and field testing, which fall into several categoris:
  Field Sampling
 
This includes taking samples of aggregate from stock piles, of fresh concrete, tack coat and hot asphalt, soils and building blocks. Cores are cut from asphalt for routine QC, while from concrete for determinations of strength or chloride, sulphate and corbonation. Other construction materials include concrete mixing water and pavers.
  Field Testing
 

Typical tests include the electrical and thermal resistivity of soils and field density by either sand replacement or nuclear densitometry, site CBR, plate load test.

Properties of fresh concrete usually determined are slump, temperature, air content and density.

  Laboratory Tests
 

Measurement of density and compressive strength of cylinders and cubes and the grading of aggregate are routinely carried out. Other concrete tests include core evaluation (e.g. strength, density, chloride and sulphate contents, carbon dioxide penetration) as well as rapid chloride permeability, water "impermeability" and volume of permeable pores. Asphalt samples are tested for composition, density and layer thickness.

The laboratory also tests cement for fineness and undertakes concrete and asphalt mix design.The detailed List of laboratory tests.

  Advisory Services
 
We offer consultancy services on many aspects of construction and materials technology. These include appraisal of specifications, establishment of QA and QC schemes for material / product assessment, failure investigations and statistical analysis of performance tests. We are also able to devise test methods where no suitable standard exists.
 
Equipments
 

Equipments available in our laborotories are listed below:

  • Semi - Auto Balances
  • Automatic Sieve Shaker
  • Troxler Surface Moisture - (Density Apparatus)
  • Digital Multimeter
  • Digital compression machine
  • Sulphur melting pots
  • Vacuum pump
  • Core drilling machine
  • Slump cone
  • Dril machine with accessories
  • Oven
  • Digital T.Loading Balance
  • Thermal resistivity apparatus for soil
  • Hydraulic Jack (Mobile)
  • Digital top loading balance
  • Aggregate crushing machine
  • Air entrainment meters
  • Generator
  • Cylinder moulds
  • Flakiness index gauge
  • Water permuabilty tester