Durability Control of Brickwork's Material Including Operation Parameters of the Building Enclosure

This paper aims to develop a method to determine material durability based on physicochemical laws that describe chemical corrosion in building enclosures. The subject of this research is studying the chemical corrosion in the material in building constructions. The object of this research is the material of building ceramics. Methods that the authors used for reaching this goal include developing a multi-staged process of material degradation of building ceramics, conduction of thermodynamic calculations, and conducting laboratory research on process kinetics. The results of kinetic researches are generalized based on a developed mathematical model. This comprehensive approach to solving the goal task allowed obtaining the following results: research methods of chemical processes in brick material and its plaster on humidification were developed. A mathematical model for evaluating material degradation in time with the changing climatic influence on enclosure was developed.

Durability and Safety Performance of Pavements with Added Photocatalysts

The use of photocatalysts to enhance the performance of construction materials with large surfaces exposed to sunlight has become an increasingly common practice in recent decades. Although construction material durability is of crucial importance and is extensively studied when incorporating new additions, very few studies have specifically addressed the effects when adding photocatalysts. This paper discusses the effect of TiO2-based photocatalysts on pavement durability (porosity, time of transmission of ultrasonic pulses, freeze-thaw resistance and capillary water absorption) and safety (slip resistance and roughness) by comparison of commercial photocatalytic materials of different families and twin materials without the photocatalyst added. The analysis covers concrete tile pavements and porous asphalt treated with photocatalysts in the form of sprayed emulsions, slurry admixtures or built-in during casting. The findings show that changes in the properties of a construction material induced by photocatalytic functionality depend primarily on the porous structure of the matrix and the properties of the resulting photocatalytic surface.

Innovative approaches to thermochromic materials for adaptive building envelopes

Thermochromic (TC) materials are characterized by a change of their optical response at a specific temperature. They can work based on both, the alteration of solar reflection by temperature, or the change of photoluminescence intensity. In building applications, this type of smart materials enhances the rejection of solar heat for high temperatures to favour cooling of the envelopes and reduces this rejection for low temperatures to improve surface heating. This adaptive optical response improves energy efficiency and reduces environmental impact of urban areas. Most of the current advances in this area are related to TC glazing based on Vanadium oxide, while opaque TC materials have been developed as based on Leuco dyes. The main drawback of these last materials is their significant aging in outdoor applications due to a photo-degradation process. The present work shows the recent results of a multidisciplinary and multinational consortium for research on innovative approaches to thermochromic materials for adaptive building envelopes. Next steps will be focused on building simulation to evaluate material choices across different performance aspects, while physical prototypes will be used for inter-laboratory evaluation of such performance and material durability.

IMPROVING THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF Al-Cu-Mg-Mn ALLOY TUBES THROUGH PLASTIC DEFORMATION

The effect of plastic deformation upon the grain structure and mechanical properties of Al-Cu-Mg-Mn alloy tubes under upsetting was investigated. It was found that plastic deformation techniques such as cold upsetting can overcome the disadvantages of the cutting process, such as the anisotropy of the original material, no grain structure, and not high mechanical properties, while also improving the mechanical properties of the product in local plastic deformation zones by changing the grain and fiber structure of the material. This article presents the results of our research and evaluates the increase of material durability in the tubes’ deformation zones compared with the initial state. In this study Al-Cu-Mg-Mn alloy material had been cutting with turn machine and plastic deformation by upsetting. Microstructures and hardness variations of cut surfaces that are obtained with different processes have been investigated.

Influence of TiO2 Nanoparticles on the Resistance of Cementitious Composite Materials to the Action of Bacteria

The formation of biofilms on cementitious building surfaces can cause visible discoloration and premature deterioration, and it can also represent a potential health threat to building occupants. The use of embedded biofilm-resistant photoactivated TiO2 nanoparticles at low concentrations in the cementitious composite matrix is an effective method to increase material durability and reduce maintenance costs. Zone of inhibition studies of TiO2-infused cementitious samples showed efficacy toward both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.

Superhydrophobic Coating Derived from Geothermal Silica to Enhance Material Durability of Bamboo Using Hexadimethylsilazane (HMDS) and Trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS)

Bamboo, a fast-growing plant from Asia, is used as building material with unique properties, while exhibiting fast degradation due to its hydrophobicity. Therefore, many attempts have been implemented using several technologies for bamboo modification to alter the hydrophobicity. Most previous studies producing superhydrophobic properties are conducted by using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) as a precursor agent. However, this method, using TEOS with harmful properties and unaffordable compounds, requires many steps to accomplish the experimental method. Therefore, this paper employed geothermal solid waste as a silica source of the precursor. Thus, an effective and efficient method was applied to prepare superhydrophobic coating by using a precursor of geothermal silica and further modification using hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) and trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS). The research was executed by the full factorial statistical method using two numerical variables (HMDS/TMCS concentration and silica concentration) and one categorical variable (solvent types). The uncoated material revealed higher weight gain in mass and moisture content than that of the coated bamboo after the soil burial test to assess the durability of the bamboo. However, the durability of superhydrophobic coating realized hydrophobic performance for both agents during sand abrasion for a total of 120 s at an angle of 45°. Statistical results showed the optimum contact angle (CA) achieved in superhydrophobic performance with lower silica concentration for HMDS concentration and the appropriate solvent of n-hexane for HMDS and iso-octane for TMCS. All results were supported using many instruments of analysis to confirm the step-by-step alteration of geothermal silica to be used as a superhydrophobic coating, such as XRF, XRD, FTIR, SEM, and SEM EDX.

Time Dependances of the Resistance Coefficients of Polymeric Materials

One of the possible approaches to the analysis of a physical mechanism of time dependence for the resistance coefficients of materials is suggested. The material durability at the constant stress is described using the Zhurkov and Gul' equations and the durability at the alternating stress—using the Bailey criterion. The low strains lead to structuring of a material that is reflected in a reduction of the structure-sensitive coefficient in these equations. This affords 20% increase in the durability. The dependence of the resistance coefficient assumes an extremal character; the maximum is observed at the time to rupture lg tr ≈ 2 (s).

Seismic Response Analysis of Pier considering Durability Damage Repair

At present, most of the research studies on the seismic performance of the durability degraded reinforced concrete structure only consider the influence of a single factor. This paper comprehensively considers the factors such as concrete carbonization, steel corrosion, and bond slip performance degradation caused by other durability factors and durability damage repair and studies the influence of the above factors on the seismic performance of bridge structures. Based on the finite element model considering the bond slip and the material parameters of time-varying durability damage, the seismic performance analysis model of the pier is established considering material durability damage repair in different service periods. Then, the effect of material durability damage repair on the seismic performance of the pier is examined. The results show that the displacement of the pier top increases, the curvature of the pier bottom decreases, and the moment-curvature curve pinching phenomenon is further evident when considering the bond slip. When considering the durability damage repair of materials, the curvature considerably decreases (the maximum value is approximately 16.04%) with the extension of the service time of the bridge, and the pier damage is substantially reduced.

Assessment of Material Durability of Steam Pipelines Based on Statistical Analysis of Strength Properties—Selected Models

The paper presents a research method concerning the application of statistical prognostic models for assessment of material durability and operational reliability of steel for steam pipelines, whose operation has exceeded the working time of 100,000 h. Decisions on the admission of long-lived materials to work for power industry results from extensive diagnostic examinations are based on the results of tests of mechanical properties, microstructure degradation, and corrosion processes. Considering the economic reasons and available data published in diagnostic reports, the determination of failure-free operating time of steam pipelines is based on the results of static tensile tests—tensile strength (Rm); conventional yield point (Rp); elongation (A) and Vickers hardness (V), correlated with the operating time and the media type (fresh steam and secondarily super-heated steam) for the most sensitive element of a pipeline, namely the elbow. The results of changes in strength properties during operation are presented in the form of graphs of the analyzed material feature vs. operating time in the range from zero hours (for a new material) to 300,000 h, taking into account the impact of random and systematic disturbances within the adopted tolerance limits. It has been found that because of the R2 factor and significance level in the t-Student test for regression and correlation coefficients, exponential, hyperbolic and quadratic models are best fitted to empirical points. Based on the tensile strength results (Rm), it has been found that the forecast time of the steam pipeline ranges from 193,400 to 258,300 h. Taking the yield strength (Rp) into account, it has been ascertained that the time ranges from 225,000 to 293,000 h, and for the working time forecast of steam pipelines based on Vickers hardness results, it ranges from 192,100 to 246,800 h.

Prediction of Cutting Material Durability by T = f(vc) Dependence for Turning Processes

This article is focused on the prediction of cutting material durability by Taylor’s model. To create predictive models of the durability of cutting materials in the turning process, tools made of high-speed steel, sintered carbide without coating and with Titanium nitride (TiN) coating, cutting ceramics without coating and with TiN coating were applied. The experimental part was performed on reference material C45 using conventional lathe—type of machine SU50A and computer numerical control machine—CNC lathe Leadwell T-5 in accordance with International Organization for Standardization—ISO 3685. Implementation of the least-squares method and processing of regression analysis made predictions of cutting tool behaviour in the turning process. Using the method of regression analysis, a correlation index of 93.5% was obtained, indicating the functional dependence of the predicted relationship.