Construction Materials Laboratory
This laboratory supports ETCE 1222L – Construction Materials Laboratory, ETCE 1122 – Construction Methods, and ETCE 3163L – Structures and Materials Laboratory.
This laboratory supports experiments in the areas of instrumentation and measurements, sieve analyses, asphalt, concrete, metals, masonry, and wood. It is used as the primary classroom for ETCE 1222L and ETCE 3163L. In addition to housing test equipment, this room contains six tables that seat 4 to 6 students per table. Tables double as work areas for experiments. This laboratory has cabinets and shelves for equipment storage, as well as a large amount of countertop space. It is also equipped with a projection screen, ceiling-mounted projector, document camera, and laptop computer hook-up.
This laboratory consists of aggregate evaluation equipment including aggregate sample splitters (2), complete sets of 12 in. diameter U.S. Standard sieves ranging from 3 in. to No. 200 sieve openings (6), Roto-Tap mechanical sieve shakers (3), a large 12 in. by 24 in. sieve shaker (1) with various size sieves, unit weight measures (10), a large drying oven (1) specific gravity devices (10) for fine and coarse aggregate, and an LA Abrasion testing machine (1). The laboratory has equipment for evaluating freshly mixed and hardened concrete including slump cone testers (6), air content pressure meters (6), air content volumetric meters (2), cylindrical steel concrete casting molds 6 in. by 12 in. (6), 4 in. by 8 in. (6), and 6 in. by 6 in. by 20 in. metal beam molds as described in Table C-9 of Appendix C. In addition, this laboratory includes, a Forney compression testing machine (1), Compressometer / extensometer test apparatus (2), and various other materials testing equipment.
Typical equipment
The petrography and microscopy facilities at UNC Charlotte have capabilities to perform materials characterization, quality evaluations, and failure investigations of construction materials including concrete, aggregates, cementitious building materials, masonry, and stone. Sample preparation equipment at this facility is used to prepare both bulk specimen and thin section slides for observation and testing. Optical equipment includes stereomicroscopes with digital image analysis systems. The university also has scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX) capabilities. Chemical staining techniques to identify components such as secondary deposits are performed. The traditional construction materials laboratories available at UNC Charlotte are capable of supporting petrographic and microscopic evaluations with conventional destructive and nondestructive testing.