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"By creating we think, by living we learn" Patrick Geddes
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Research Facilties

The CTU's laboratories are some of the best equipped in the UK and offer a unique suite of techniques available for the characterisation of cement, concrete and other geological and industrial materials. The Concrete Laboratories are fully equipped to characterise the engineering properties of concrete in terms of compressive and flexural strength, modulus of elasticity, creep and shrinkage. Facilities for the study of concrete durability in terms of chloride corrosion, sulfate and acid attack, freeze-thaw exposure, alkali-aggregate reactions and abrasion are also present, with a range of complementary characterisation methods for characterising surface and bulk transport properties of concrete. Within the concrete laboratories is the Highways Materials Laboratory, which is fully equipped to produce bituminous highway materials and characterise them in terms of both plastic and hardened properties.

The Cement Science Laboratory is equipped with microscopy facilities, along with BET nitrogen adsorption, laser diffraction, air permeability and mercury intrusion porosity equipment allowing the characterisation of particles and porous materials. Access to an environmental scanning electron microscope and a transmission electron microscope is also available for study of microstructure.

The Environmental Laboratory contains facilities for the chemical and mineralogical analysis of solid materials (x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, x-ray powder diffraction and thermogravimetry / differential thermal analysis). Thermogravimetry can also be carried out in parallel with Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy of the exhaust gases, allowing more precise identification of constituents and also an evaluation of the likely pollutants deriving from the thermal processing of minerals and wastes. Additionally, the lab contains a suite of methods (voltammetry, atomic absorption spectrometry, ion chromatography, autotitration, colorimetry) for the analysis of aqueous solutions for the presence of inorganic and organic species both in large concentrations and also at trace levels for environmentally significant species. A cluster of isothermal conduction calorimeters are also located in this lab, allowing monitoring of cement hydration kinetics.

Microstructural analysis of concrete   Synthesis of clinker material   Heat of hydration testing by isothermal conduction calorimetry   Chloride ingress testing   Chloride ingress testing   Wet chemical alaysis by ion chromatography   Fineness testing of powerders by Blanie air permeability apparatus   Detecting alkali-silica-reaction (ASR) by optical microscopy of polished sections   Chloride analysis by potentiometric titration (left) and leach testing of flyash (right)   Formwork Pressures Project   Students working on project using XRF equipment   Foamed Concrete Project   Digital image analysis of thin sections   Investigation of deterioration of marine concrete in simulated tidal zone environment   Trace metal analysis by voltammetry at part per trillion level   Thermogravimetric analysis coupled with optimal infrared detection of flue gases  

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