Civil Engineering Materials

CE-107

Department of Civil Engineering

Army Public College of Management &
Sciences, Rawalpindi
Building Materials

• Building stones
• Bricks and clay products
• Cement concrete
• Timber and wood products
• Metals and alloys
• Paints, varnishes, distempers
• Asphalt, bitumen and tar
• Plastics and fibers
• Glass
• Insulating Materials
• Miscellaneous Materials
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Metals

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Definitions

• Metal: Class of elements existing as oxide,

carbonate, sulphide and phosphate
compounds in natural rocks called ores
• Ferrous metals: metals in which iron is the
main constituent. Cast iron, wrought iron,
steel, etc
• Non-Ferrous metals: metals in which iron
is not the main constituent. Aluminum,
copper, zinc, lead, tin, etc
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Metals

Metals

Non-Ferrous Ferrous Non-Ferrous

Metals Metals Alloys

Aluminum Pig Iron Brass

Copper Cast Iron Bronze

Zinc Wrought Iron Duralumin

Lead, Tin, etc Steel German Silver

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Iron Ore

• Magnetite (Fe3O4) 70-75% iron

• Haematite (Fe2O3) 70% iron
• Limonite (2Fe2O3. 3H2O) 60% iron
• Iron Pyrite (FeS) 47% iron
• Siderite (FeCO3) 40% iron

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Production of Iron and Steel

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Pig Iron

• Iron ore is crushed to 50 mm size.

Impurities are knocked off.
• Ore is calcined to drive off moisture and
then smelted in blast furnace
• Iron is deoxidized and limestone is added
as flux to remove sulphur
• The refined molten metal is tapped from
furnace and cast in the form of bars called
pigs. Hence the product is called pig iron.
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Blast Furnace for Pig Iron

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Blast Furnace

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Sows and Pigs

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Pig Iron

• Crudest form of iron

• Classified as Bessemer pig, foundry pig,
forge pig and mottled pig
• Uses
– Used in production of cast iron, wrought iron
and steel
– Due to high compressive strength used in
columns, base plates, door brackets, wheels
and pipe work

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Pig Iron - Properties

• Difficult to bend
• Melts easily. Fusion temp is 1200°C
• Can be hardened but not tempered
• Can not be magnetized
• Has very high compressive strength but
weak in tension and shear
• Does not rust
• Can not be welded or riveted

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Cast Iron

• Pig iron re-melted with limestone and coke and

poured into molds of desired shapes and sizes
to get purer product called cast iron
• Methods of casting
– Sand casting
– Hollow casting
– Vertical sand casting
– Centrifugal casting
– Die casting

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Cast Iron

• Classification: grey, white, malleable,

mottled, chilled and toughened cast iron
• Uses: castings, rain water pipes, gutters,
gratings, railings, cisterns, manhole covers
and balustrades

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Cast Iron - Properties

• Coarse, crystalline and fibrous structure

• Brittle, can not withstand shocks and impacts
• Can not be welded or riveted
• Can not be magnetized
• Can be hardened but not tempered
• Neither malleable nor ductile
• Does not rust
• Becomes soft in saline water
• Fairly hard, not workable with hand file
• Strong in compression, weak in tension and shear
• Lacks plasticity, unsuitable for forging work
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Puddling Furnace for Wrought Iron

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Reverberatory Furnace

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Wrought Iron

• All carbon and other elements in pig iron

oxidized to obtain wrought iron
– Carbon reduced below 0.25%
– All impurities reduced below 0.5%
• Uses
– Roofing sheets, corrugated sheets, rods, gas
and water pipes, boiler tubes, plain and
ornamental iron work like grills, gates, railings,
window guards, electromagnets
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Wrought Iron - Properties
• Fibrous structure with silky luster
• Ductile and malleable
• Tough, can withstand shocks and impacts
• Neither be hardened nor tempered
• Can be forged and welded
• At 900°C two pieces can be joined by hammering. Melts
at 1500°C
• Rusts easily
• Unaffected by saline water
• Forms temporary magnets
• Equally strong in tension, compression and shear
• Specific gravity is 7.25

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Steel

• In steel the carbon content is in chemically

combined form and may exist up to 1.5%
• For a material to be classified as steel there
should be no free graphite in its composition.
Any free carbon makes it as cast iron
• Steel categories
– Dead mild steel less than 0.15% carbon
– Mild, soft, low carbon steel 0.15 to 0.3% carbon
– Medium carbon steel 0.3 to 0.8% carbon
– High carbon steel 0.8 to 1.5% carbon

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Bessemer Converter for Steel

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Bessemer Converter

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Classification of Steel

Steel
Carbon Steels Alloy Steels

Mild Steel Stainless Steel

High Carbon
Nickel Steel
Steel
High Tension
Vanadium Steel
Steel
Reinforcing
Tungsten Steel
Steel

Manganese Steel

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Mild steel

• Steel with carbon content 0.15 to 0.3%

• Called mild steel, low carbon steel or soft steel
• Uses
– Used in construction work as rolled sections, I-sec, T-
sec, channels, angle irons, etc
– MS round bars used in RCC as reinforcement
– Plain and corrugated sheets as roofing
– Used in manufacture of various tools, equipment,
machine parts
– Rail tracks, towers and industrial buildings
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Mild steel

• Fibrous structure with dark bluish color

• Ductile and malleable
• Tough and elastic than cast and wrought iron
• More prone to rusting and corrodes easily
• Can be permanently magnetized
• Easily forged, welded and riveted
• Withstands shocks and impacts
• Not much affected by saline water
• Equally strong in tension, compression and shear
• Difficult to harden and temper
• Specific gravity is 7.8
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High Carbon Steel

• Steel where in the carbon content is from

0.55 to 1.5%
• Higher percentage of carbon renders it
harder and tougher
• Uses
– Manufacture of tools like drills, files, chisels
– Fine quality of cutlery
– Parts of machines requiring to withstand
shocks and vibrations

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High Carbon Steel

• Granular structure
• Tough and elastic than mild steel
• Easier to harden and temper
• More difficult to forge, weld and rivet
• Can be permanently magnetized
• Strong in compression than tension and shear
• Withstands shocks and impacts

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High Tension Steel

• High Tension Steel

– Low carbon steel with carbon nearly 0.15%
– Also called high strength steel
– Less weight is required due to increased tensile
strength
– Withstands atmospheric erosion
– Tougher and more elastic
– More brittle and less ductile
– Extensively used in reinforcing prestressed concrete
structures

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Reinforcing Steel

• Reinforcing Steel
– Mild steel or high tension steel is embedded
as reinforcement in plain cement concrete to
provide tensile strength
– Flat, square and round bars used
– Welded wire mesh also used as
reinforcement

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Alloy Steels

• Stainless Steel
• Nickel Steel
• Vanadium Steel
• Tungsten Steel
• Manganese Steel

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Stainless Steel

• Structural steel with copper content of

0.2% resists atmospheric corrosion better
than structural steel with no copper
• Chromium is most effective ingredient for
corrosion resistance. Corrosion protection
is due to dense film of oxide formed over
metal surface.
• Steel with chromium over 16% called as
stainless steel
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Stainless Steel

• Group-1
– Chromium less than 16% and carbon less than 0.4%.
Respond to heat treatment, are not brittle, can be
machined and welded. Resist weather and water
• Group-2
– Chromium higher than 16% and carbon less than
0.4%. Do not respond to heat treatment, are brittle.
Can be forged, rolled, cold drawn and machined. Can
be welded and resist corrosion.
• Group-3
– Sufficient chromium to make it non-magnetic. Very
tough and do not respond to heat treatment. Can be
forged, rolled, cold drawn but machined with difficulty.
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Nickel Steel

• Contains 0.5 to 1.0% carbon and 3.5%

nickel which imparts hardness, toughness,
strength and reduces rust formation
• Used in manufacture of automobile parts,
airplane parts, cables and propeller shafts.
• Steel with high nickel content (30 to 40%)
is called invar, with very low coefficient of
thermal expansion, and is used to make
delicate instruments
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Vanadium Steel

• Contains 0.1 to 2.0% vanadium

• Very strong and ductile
• Capable of resisting shocks
• High elastic limit

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Tungsten Steel

• Contains 14 to 20% tungsten, 3 to 8%

chromium and very small amount of
carbon, vanadium and molybdenum
• Also called high speed steel
• Hardens at high temperature and retains
temper
• Used for making drilling machines and
high speed cutting tools
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Manganese Steel

• Contains 12 to 15% manganese

• Very hard, tough and non-magnetic
• Used for making machine parts and points
and crossings in rail tracks

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Preservation of Steel

• Rusting: Oxidation of iron at the surface,

which is activated by presence of moisture
and carbon dioxide and accelerated by
atmospheric pollution
• Iron → ferrous bicarbonate → ferric
bicarbonate → hydrated ferric oxide
• Corrosion: Phenomenon of slow but
steady eating away of metal due to rust
formation
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Preservation of Steel

• Tarring: dipping of iron in hot coal tar to

form a film on metal. Pipes or pole ends
• Painting: application of lead paints on
exposed metal surfaces like roof trusses,
bridge structure, etc
• Enameling: smaller surfaces treated with
enamel
• Galvanizing: depositing a fine film of zinc
or iron surface
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Preservation of Steel

• Sheradizing: acid solution washed metal

surface is covered with zinc dust and
heated in furnace to form a thin layer of
molten zinc
• Tin plating: dipping in bath of molten tin
• Electroplating: depositing a thin film of
nickel, chromium, cadmium, copper or zinc
by the electrolysis process. Metal surface
is cathode and deposition metal is anode
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Heat Treatment - Annealing

• Heating slowly to a temperature of 800 to

1000°C, maintaining it and then cooling very
slowly in some non-conducting material
• Steel is annealed to release internal stresses
due to
– Working of metal
– unequal contraction in casting
• Annealing is done to soften the steel to enable it
to be machined

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Heat Treatment - Normalizing

• Heating slowly to a temperature of

1000°C, and then cooling slowly in air
• Steel is normalized to refine the crystalline
structure and remove cold working strain
• Normalizing is also required after steel is
heated to very high temperatures for
forging etc

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Heat Treatment - Hardening

• Heating steel to red hot, and then

suddenly cooling by dipping it in bath of
cold water or oil
• Process also called quenching and we get
quenched steel which is hard and brittle
• Hardness of quenched steel depends
upon quenching medium, and rate of
cooling

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Heat Treatment - Tempering

• Heating steel to below critical or tempering

temperature and then letting it cool off or
quenched
• Process causes partial transformation
thereby reducing steel’s hardness but
making it tougher
• Tempering temperature depends upon the
purpose of tempering

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Heat Treatment – Case Hardening

• Hardening only the metal surface up to a

depth of 1.5 mm
• Process comprises of
– Converting the outer skin to high carbon steel
– Hardening the case and refining the core

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Composition, Properties, Uses

Property Cast Iron Wrought Iron Steel

Composition Crude. 2-4% Purest. Less than 0.5 to 1.5% carbon
carbon 0.25% carbon
Structure Crystalline Fibrous, silky luster Granular

Sp Gravity 7 to 7.50 7.70 7.85

Melting point 1200°C 1500°C 1300 to 1400°C

Hardness Quite hardened by Can not be Can be hardened

heating and cooling hardened or and tempered
tempered
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Composition, Properties, Uses

Property Cast Iron Wrought Iron Steel

Strength Compressive 6.3 to Compressive 6.3 Compressive 4.72
7.1 ton/cm2 to 2.0 ton/cm2 to 25.2 ton/cm2
Tensile 1.26 to 1.57 Tensile 3.15 to Tensile 5.51 to
ton/cm2 3.94 ton/cm2 11.02 ton/cm2
Shock Does not absorb Can not stand Absorbs shocks
reaction shocks sudden heavy
shocks
Magnetization Can not be Temporary Permanent magnets
magnetized magnetization only
Rusting Does not rust easily Rusts more than Rusts easily
cast iron
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Composition, Properties, Uses

Property Cast Iron Wrought Iron Steel

Malleability Neither malleable Tough, malleable, Tough, malleable
ductility nor ductile ductile and and ductile
moderately elastic
Forging and Brittle, can not be Can be easily Can be rapidly
welding welded or sheet forged and welded forged or welded
rolled
Uses Water pipes, Chains, crane Reinforcement in
sewers, drain pipes, hooks, railway RCC and RBC,
lamp posts, couplings, structural members,
columns, railings components under bolts, rivets, sheets,
constant shock files, machine tools

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