443 Materials for Civil Engineering
Metal
Ferrous Metal
Metals are aiming the most useful building materials. They exist in nature as
compounds like oxides, carbonates, sulphides and phosphates and are known as ores. Metals
are derived from ores by removing the impurities. Those used for engineering purposes are
classified as ferrous metals.
Iron
Iron is by for the most important of the metals used in engineering construction. It is
available in abundance, but does not occur freely in nature. The ores of iron are classed
according to the iron mineral which is predominant. The iron content of the main ores are as
follows:
Magnetite (Fe3O4) — 70–75%,
Haematite (Fe2O3) — 70%,
Limonite (2Fe3O3.3H2O)— 60%,
Iron pyrite (FeS3) — 47%, and
Siderite (FeCO3) — 40%
The fundamental chemical principles in the extraction of iron from the ores is very simple.
Heating the ores in the presence of a reducing agent will result in the formation of CO or CO2,
librated as a gas, and metallic iron. Iron owes its greatest utility to the fact that it alloys freely
with other elements, and its inherent properties are markedly altered and improved for varying
conditions of service.
Pig Iron
Manufacture of pig iron
The iron ore is dressed by crushing it to about 50 mm cubes. The impurities are knocked off
and the ore is then calcined to drive off moisture. The calcined ore is melted in blast furnance.
The iron is deoxidised and a part of sulphur is also removed. Then limestone, which acts as
flux, is added to finally remove the sulphur. The molten metal is tapped from the furnance and
is cast in the form of pigs.
Composition
Pig iron contains 3-4% caron, 0.5–3.5% silicon, 0.5–2% manganese, 0.02–0.1% sulphur and
0.03–1% Phosphorus.
Properties
Pig iron is hard and brittle with fusion temperature of 1200°C and melts easily. It can be
hardened but cannot be tempered and magnetised. Its compressive strength is high but is weak
in tension and shear. Pig iron does not rust and cannot be riveted or welded.
Uses
Pig iron is most suitable for making columns, base plates, door brackets, etc.
Cast Iron
Manufacture of cast iron
Pig iron is remelted with limestone (flux) and coke and refined in Cupola furnace. It is then
poured into moulds of desired size and shape.
Method of casting
Sand casting
The most common casting procedure dure involves pouring molten metal into a cavity in a
mass of packed sand. Wooden patterns are used for moulds which are removed when the sand
has dried. Each mould has a hole for casting through which the molten iron is poured. Air and
hot gases escape through another hole. Cast material is taken out by breaking the mould after
iron cools down.
Hollow casting
Hollow casting is used for making columns and piles. For hollow casting of the objects a solid
core is placed where the hollow is to be maintained. After casting the core and mould are taken
out. Cast material becomes hollow due to the core.
Die casting
Die casting is cheap for commercial production. Casting is done under pressure, which may be
as high as 140 MN/mm2, into a split die cavity. Since the die is water cooled, the molten metal
solidifies quickly, permitting early removal of the casting.
Classification
Cast iron is classified as grey, white, malleable, mottled, chilled and toughened. The
nomenclature white and grey signify the appearance of the fracture of a casting. The rest of the
terms signify the special properties developed in these classes by heat treatment and alloying.
Properties
Cast iron is hard and brittle. It can neither be riveted nor welded. It is strong in compression
but weak in tension and shear.
Uses
Some of the more common uses of cost iron are making ornamental castings such as wall
brackets, lamp posts; bathroom fittings such as cisterns, water pipes, sewers, manhole covers,
sanitary fittings and; rail chairs, carriage wheels and machine parts subjected to shocks. It is
used as basic material for manufacturing wrought iron and mild steel.
Wrough Iron
Manufacture of wrough iron
It is manufactured in reverberatory or puddling furnace by Astor’s process. The molten iron is
first refined by blasting air in the furnance. The metal is cooled and poured into moulds. The
metal becomes brittle. It is then melted in reverberatory furnace where iron melts due to burning
of gas. After melting, puddle balls are produced which are sent for shingling. Here the balls are
formed as bloom. The bloom is sent to grooved rollers to form flat bars. The process is repeated
several times to remove the impurities.
Properties
Wrought iron is ductile, malleable, tough and moderately elastic.
Uses
Roof coverings, rivets, chains, ornamental iron works such as gates, etc. are made of wrought
iron.
Steel
Steel is the most suitable building material among metallic materials. This is due to a wide
range and combination of physical and mechanical properties that steels can have. By suitably
controlling the carbon content, alloying elements and heat treatment, a desired combination of
hardness, ductility and strength can be obtained in steel.
Types of steel Carbon content ( %)
Dead mild steel < 0.15
Mild steel 0.15-0.3
Medium carbon steel 0.3-0.8
High carbon steel 0.8-1.5
Manufacture of steel
Bessemer process
The most prominent present-day steel-making process is the Bessemer process was introduced
in 1856. The pig iron is first melted in Cupola furnace and sent to Bessemer converter Blast of
hot air is given to oxidize the carbon. Depending upon the requirement, some carbon and
manganese is added to the converter and hot air is blasted once again. Then the molten material
is poured into moulds to form ingots. By this method steel can be madein hardly 25 minutes.
Properties and Uses
Mild Steel
Also known as low carbon or soft steel. It is ductile, malleable; tougher and more elastic than
wrought iron. Mild steel can be forged and welded, difficult to temper and harden. It rusts
quickly and can be permanently magnetised.
Mild steel is used in the form of rolled sections, reinforcing bars, roof coverings and sheet piles
and in railway tracks.
Young’s modulus for mild steel can be determine by measuring the slope of the straight line
portion (elastic region).
From the curve,
Young’s modulus, E for mild steel = change in stress/change in strain
E = Δσ/Δ𝐸
High Carbon Steel
The carbon content in high carbon steel varies from 0.55 to 1.50%. It is also known as hard
steel. It is tougher and more elastic than mild steel. It can be forged and welded with difficulty.
High carbon steel is used for reinforcing cement concrete and prestressed concrete members.
It can take shocks and vibrations and is used for making tools and machine parts.
High Tensil Steel
The carbon content in high tensile steel is 0.6–0.8%, manganese 0.6%, silicon 0.2%, sulphur
0.05% and phosphorus 0.05%. It is also known as high strength steel and is essentially a
medium carbon steel.
High Tensile steel is used in prestressed concrete construction.
Heat Treatment
The properties of steel can be controlled and changed as well by various heat treatments. A
steel of given composition may be made soft, ductile and tough by one heat treatment, and the
same steel may be made
relatively hard and strong by another. Heat treatment affects the nature, amount, and character
of the metallographic properties.
Some of the principle purposes of heat treatment are as follows.
1. To enhance properties such as strength, ductility, hardness and toughness.
2. To relieve internal stresses and strains.
3. To refine the grain.
4. To remove gases.
5. To normalize steel after heat treatment.
Hardening
This heat treatment consists of heating the steel above the upper critical temperature holding at
that temperature until phase equilibrium has been established, and then quenching rapidly to
produce a martensite structure. Martensite is the chief constituent of hardened steel and is
fibrous or needle like structure. Hardened steel is very brittle and cannot be used for practical
purposes. The quenching medium is usually brine, water or oil, depending on the desired
cooling rate.
The objective of this treatment may be to secure a given hardness to a desired depth in steel.
But in most instances the hardening treatment may simply be considered as starting point from
which better combinations of desired properties may be secured by subsequent heat treatment.
Fully hardened steel are not suitable for most commercial uses because they are hard and brittle
and have poor toughness.
Tempering
A plain carbon steel that has been hardened is in metastable condition or equilibrium. If this
hardened steel is reheated to some temperature below the critical range, a more stable condition
will be obtained. Since hardened steels do not usually have the combination of properties
desired for specific uses, modification is affected by tempering. When a thick piece of steel is
cooled rapidly it develops additional strains as the surface cools quicker than the interior. To
relieve this strain, steel is subjected to the process tempering which consists in slowly heating
the steel to a predetermined subcritical temperature and then cooling it slowly. This
temperature varies from 100°C to 700°C. The higher the temperature of tempering the softer is
the product. The properties like toughness and ductility are automatically introduced with
release of strain.
Annealing
It is a general term used for heating and slow cooling of metal, glass or any other material,
which has developed strain due to rapid cooling. The process consists of heating the steel to a
temperature below the critical range, but high enough to obtain strain recrystllization and then
cooled in any manner. The exact heating temperature depends on the composition of steel and
the amount of work that it has received, but is frequently between 500°C to 600°C. Annealing
of steel in addition to removing strain introduces one or more of the following properties.
1. Introduces softness, ductility and malleability.
2. Alters electrical, magnetic and other physical properties.
3. Produces a definite microstructure and grain refinement.
4. Removes gases.
Full annealing consists of heating iron alloy 20°C to 50°C above critical temperature range,
holding at that temperature for the required period of time to convert it to austenite followed
by slow cooling. Full annealing usually decreases hardness, strength and resistance to abrasion,
and increases ductility and mechaneability.
Normalazing
It consists in heating steel above critical range and cooling rapidly in air, but at rate slower than
the critical cooling rate. The purpose of this heat treatment is to refine the grain structure
resulting from rolling, forging or other manufacturing processes.
Rolled steel sections
The types of rolled structural steel sections are as follows:
1. Rolled steel I-sections
2. Rolled steel channel sections
3. Rolled steel T-sections
4. Rolled steel angle-sections
5. Rolled steel tube-sections
6. Rolled steel bars
7. Rolled steel flats
8. Rolled steel plates
9. Rolled steel sheets
10. Rolled steel strip
Alloy Steel
In general, the properties desired in a metal to be used as building material are not present to
the best advantage in any single metal. To develop specific properties a combination of metals
or metallic substances is done and are classed as alloys.
The important reasons for alloy additions are:
1. To increase the hardenability of steel. The steel in this group are usually heat treated by
quenching and tempering, for it is only this way that the added expanse of the alloys can be
justified through the better combination of properties that is obtained.
2. To strengthen the steel when it is to be used without special heat treatment. The steels that
fall in this category are designed specifically for constructional purposes.
3. To confer some special property such as machinability, corrosion resistance wear resistance,
etc.
Compare of Metal and Alloy
Metal Alloy
Strength Low High
Hardness Low High
Ductility Good Poor
Corrosion resistance Less More
Non-Ferrous Metals
Athough the production of individual non-ferrous metals is small in comparison to the iron, the
former play an important part in many engineering structure and industrial processes. The non-
ferrous metals and their alloys are used despite their high cost because they provide a wide
variety of properties. Some of the more commonly used non-ferrous metals are aluminium,
copper, tin, zinc, lead and manganese.
Aluminium
Aluminium is silver white in colour with a brittle metallic lustre on freshly broken surface. It
is malleable, less ductile than copper but excels zinc, tin, and lead. Aluminium is harder than
tin. Aluminium is very light, soft, strong and durable, has low thermal conductivity but is a
good conductor of electricity. Aluminium can be riveted and welded, but cannot be soldered.
Flow diagram for extraction of aluminium
Uses
Pure aluminium is very soft and is unsuitable for structural purposes. Satisfactory properties
are derived by alloying copper, manganese, zinc, silicon, nickel with aluminium. It is most
suitable for making door and window frames, railings of shops and corrugated sheets for
roofing system. Aluminium powder is used for making paint.
Copper
Copper is extracted form ores. Nearly all the copper is extracted by smelting. After calcining
the ore it is mixed with silica and coke. Then it is oxidized in Bessemer converter where
removal of major portion of iron and Sulphur compounds is effected. The crude copper thus
produced is known as blister copper which is cast into small pigs. The blister copper contains
many impurities and is refined in the reverberatory finance or by electrolysis.
Properties
Copper is a bright shining metal of reddish colour which turns greenish on exposure to weather.
Copper is malleable and ductile and can be worked in hot and cold conditions. It is not
weldable, except on red heat. It is soft and good conductor of heat and electricity.
Uses
Copper is extensively used for electrical purposes, tubes for condensers and for other
conductors which must withstand corrosion. In buildings copper is used for roofing and
sheeting.
Reinforcing steel bar
Cement concrete is one of the most versatile and established construction material throughout
the world. Concrete being extremely weak in tension requires reinforcement, which is in
variably steel. Steel reinforcement is available in the form of bars of specific diameters with
different chemical composition, e.g., mild steel and high tensile steel, and surface
characteristics— plain or deformed.
Tensile test
A material is gripped at both ends by an apparatus, which slowly pulls lengthwise on the piece
until it fractures. The pulling force is called a load, which is plotted against the material length
change, or displacement. The load is converted to a stress value and the displacement is
converted to a strain value.
Elastic and plastic deformation
A straight piece of steel wire or strip, rigidly held at one end, bent by a small load to a few
degrees, normally ‘spring back’ to its original shape when the load is released. By placing a
double load at the end of the steel sample, the rate of deflection is then twice as high but the
sample still returns to its original shape when the load is taken off. In other words, the sample
is loaded within its ‘elastic’ range.
After increasing the load and the deflection to a certain limit, the sample no longer returns to
its original shape upon the removal of the load. At that load, the sample remains ‘permanently’
deformed since the stresses in the steel material exceeded the yield strength limit. Similar
occurrences can be observed with springs. The linear relation between load and deflection is
utilized in the ‘spring balance’ scale but the load is always kept safely within the elastic range
of the spring. If a spring is stretched over its elastic range (over yield limit), then it will not
spring back to its original shape. This permanent deformation is known as plastic deformation.
Overload failure of metal
Overload failures refer to the ductile or brittle fracture of a material when stresses exceed the
load-bearing capacity of a material.
Fatigue failure of metal
Metal fatigue, weakened condition induced in metal parts of machines, vehicles, or structures
by repeated stresses or loadings, ultimately resulting in fracture under a stress much weaker
than that necessary to cause fracture in a single application.
Creep failure of metal
Creep in metals is a term that refers to a phenomenon where a solid material deforms under the
influence of sustained mechanical stress. It is a time-dependent deformation that's most
pronounced at high temperature conditions where the material undergoes a permanent, slow,
and progressive deformation.
Rusting and Corrosion
When steel is exposed to atmosphere, it is subjected to action of atmospheric agencies. The
humid air causes the rusting of steel (the formation of oxides on the surface of steel), also the
atmospheric conditions along with rain produces oxidation and corrosion. Consequently, the
physical and mechanical properties are affected. In due course of time cracks and
discontinuities may form in the oxide film, due to electro-chemical action on the metal surface,
providing a fresh source of atmospheric action resulting in further corrosion. Once rusting is
initiated, it gradually increases and corrodes iron. Rusts in the form of scales are peeled off
from the swelled surface of iron. It is serious problem as the surface becomes rough with rusted
iron projections. This may injure users. Also, the loss of steel sectional area may cause failure
of structural elements.
Methods for prevention of corrosion
The rusting of iron can be prevented by the following methods:
Galvanization:
Galvanized metal is coated with a thin layer of zinc to protect it against corrosion. The zinc
oxidizes when it is exposed to air creating a protective coating on the metal surface.
Alloying:
It is the method of improving the properties of a metal by mixing the metal with another metal
or nonmetal. When iron is alloyed with chromium and nickel in stainless steel is obtained.
Stainless steel does not rust at all.
Painting:
Rusting of iron can be easily prevented by coating the surface with paint which protects iron
from air and moisture.
Greasing/Oiling:
When some grease oil is applied to the surface of an iron object, then air and moisture cannot
come in contact with it, and hence rusting is prevented.
Cathodic Protection
Corrosion takes place when the metal is in contact with water for a long period of time.
Pipelines which are situated inside the sea and saltwater are more prone to corrosion as oxides
are easily deposited in salty water. With this method, DC current is applied to metals. The
impressed current method, also known as cathodic protection, is used for the protection of large
ships which are constantly underwater.
Fire resistance of steel
Steel is considered to be a fire-resistant material because it can retain all of its strength in
temperatures up to 370ºC (700ºF). At 500ºC (930ºF), it loses 30 percent of its strength and at
temperatures above 538ºC (1000ºF), unprotected steel loses close to half of its strength.
Fire protection method of steel
1. Intumescent Coating
One of the most popular fireproofing methods is using an intumescent coating. These coatings
provide structural steel members with a fireproof coating that helps them stand up to the heat
produced by a fire. These coatings expand as much as 100 times in thickness and create a buffer
between the steel and the fire. They work by expanding once they’re exposed to extreme heat.
Intumescent coatings are common for use on steel that is exposed to the public. It is also one
of the most cost-effective fireproofing methods.
2. Flexible Blanket Systems
Flexible blankets are different from intumescent coatings because they’re designed for specific
applications and needs. The method of using flexible blanket systems is a practical option but
there aren’t many manufacturers that use it. If you’re worried about your structural steel
meeting code, flexible blanket systems have you covered. It is a reliable buffer between the
steel members and the heat produced by a fire without creating dangerous toxins.
3. Rigid Board Fireproofing
Rigid board fireproofing is great because it is available in different thicknesses. Another great
aspect of rigid board fireproofing is that it is easy to install and can be installed during the
installation process of steel beams and boards. Steel boards that are rigid board fireproofed are
resistant to moisture. They are also great for fireproofing, thermal insulation, and even acoustic
control. It offers the additional benefit of preventing attacks by termites and other types of
pests.
4. Concrete
Concrete isn’t quite as popular for fireproofing as it used to be, but it is still in use to
encapsulate large sections of steel. While this method is effective, it takes up a lot more space
than other fireproofing methods. The other downside to using concrete fireproofing is that it
isn’t quite as aesthetically pleasing as other fireproofing methods. It is most often used in places
where steel fireproofing is needed but that don’t see high volumes of people.
Physical change and chemical change of metal
Physical changes are limited to changes that result in a difference in display without changing
the composition. Some common changes are:
Texture
Color
Temperature
Shape
Change of State (Boiling Point and Melting Point are significant factors in determining this
change.)
Physical properties include many other aspects of a substance. The following are physical
properties.
Luster
Malleability
Ability to be drawn into a thin wire
Density
Viscosity
Solubility
Mass
Volume
Any change in these physical properties is referred to as a physical change.
A chemical change occurs when the substance's composition is changed. When bonds are
broken and new ones are formed a chemical change occurs. The following are indicators of
chemical changes:
Change in Temperature
Change in Color
Noticeable Odor (after reaction has begun)
Formation of a Precipitate
Formation of Bubbles
(i)Two ways in which materials can fail due to a chemical change
- Steel member can fail by corrosion result from a complex electro-chemical reaction.
- Foundation concrete using Ordinary Portland Cement can fail in contact with sulphate in the
soil. Sulphate attack Ordinary Portland Cement due to chemical reaction.
(ii) Two ways in which materials can fail due to a physical change
- Steel members in tension can fail when reaching their breaking strength. Large strain occurs
from yield point to the breaking point which is a physical change.
- Excessive compressive strain in cement concrete can cause sudden crushing of concrete.
