Impact of Built Environment and Nanomaterials

Home Impact of Built Environment and Nanomaterials

The Department of Impacts of the Built Environment and Nanomaterials (IMCN) conducts interdisciplinary research corresponding to the fundamental research field of material science. Thus, the IMCN carries out studies and research on the impact of environmental factors on construction, recycling and reuse of construction and demolition waste, assessment of binder / aggregate compatibility, micro and nanomaterial production, physico-chemical and microstructural characterization of oxides and metallic materials, thermal treatments for improving the properties of oxide and metallic materials, evaluation of the durability of oxide materials by performing corrosion tests (in various aggressive environments), frost cleftness tests etc. The research staff is qualified in the field of oxide and metallic materials, with a high level of professional training in the activity fields of the Department. The IMCN is equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure that can successfully carry out all the specific activities in the Department’s profile.

Area of competence

Monitoring and evaluation of the environment`s impact on the degradation of buildings;
Assessing the durability of building materials and their recycling;
Ecological assessment and rehabilitation of monuments / hydrotechnical constructions;
Synthesis of nanomaterials usable in environmental protection;
Production and characterization of oxide and metallic materials;
Realization of physical models and layouts;
Technical assistance, consultancy, expertise in the fields of: durability of building materials; reduction, reuse and recycling of materials; characterization of materials; environmental impact of constructions; and impact of aggressive environment on constructions.

Activities

Studies on water aggressiveness on hydrotechnical structures;
Research on the compatibility of cements with aggregates (alkali-aggregate reactions) and the choice of cement type according to the construction exploitation conditions;
Research on the influence of aggressive external factors (natural aggression and / or environmental pollution) on hydrotechnical concrete and other construction materials;
Research on the recycling and reuse of construction waste and demolition waste;
Studies on the monitoring of the chemistry of natural and anthropogenic aggressive waters and the study of deposits of solubilized and leached materials from different structures;
Research on corrosion phenomena in coastal environment (marine).
Research on obtaining and developing nanomaterials with applicability in environmental protection;
Complex microstructural characterization of (nano) materials, applicable in environmental protection;
Assessment of the physical and mechanical properties of oxide and metallic materials;
Calorimetric analysis in order to determine the behavior of oxide and metallic materials;
Development of physical modelsand prototypes.

Infrastructure

Equipment name: SU-70 FE-SEM
Year: 2015
Producer: HITACHI
Description: The scanning electron microscope SU-70 is an indispensable system to obtain valuable microstructural information, with the possibility to analyze even nanoscale formations. The high resolution (1.0 to 15 kV secondary electron image and 1.6 to 1kV secondary electron image using the deceleration technique), with a very wide magnification (25-800000 x), is fitted with dual functioning objective lens (high imaging of the sample in a magnetic field and field-free operating mode for magnetic samples). The scanning microscope is equipped with two detectors EDS and EBSD. The EDS detector allows the detection of the chemical elements from Be to Cf on an active surface of 50 mm². The EBSD detector, with an effective resolution of 1344 × 1024, can operate even with low current of up to 100pA. It can be used to obtain maps with a minimum density of pixels equal to 4k × 4k in rectangular, circular, elliptical or random areas.

Equipment name: X-Ray Diffractometer D8 ADVANCE
Year: 2015
Producer: Bruker
Description: The X-ray diffractometer D8 ADVANCE is a system built after a new revolutionary concept, with a design that allows the operation after the “plug & play” principle. It can address a wide range of applications: phase identification, quantitative phase analysis, determining the ab-initio crystal structures and refining structure, microstructural analysis, XRD measurements for non-ambient condition (high temperatures, higher or at least equal to 1200 °C) in order to study the phase transitions processes, crystallization, unstable compounds, small angle scattering measurements, characterization of thin films (XRR, GID, SAXS).

Equipment name: Thermal analyzer STA 449 F5 JUPITER
Year: 2015
Producer: Netzsch
Description: The thermal analyzer STA 449 Jupiter covers a temperature range from ambient up to 1600 ºC, with the possibility to use two types of sensors (TG-DSC or TG-DTA). The DSC signal has an enthalpy accuracy of 2%, while the DTA sensor sensitivity is 0.001 K. The equipment can be used to determine the phase transformations and changes in mass, but also the decomposition analysis of the material investigated and its interactions with the atmosphere.

Equipment name: Atomic Force Microscope NEXT
Year: 2015
Producer: NT-MDT
Description: The Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) is the most used technique of scanning probe microscopy (SPM), which involves scanning a surface with a very sharp tip and monitoring the interaction between the tip and the surface to create a high resolution image of the studied material. AFM Solver NEXT provides 3D image of the surface topography and cross-section images. The device can be used for both liquid and gas / air media and is equipped with a 850 nm laser in the NIR domain.

Equipment name: Planetary Mill PULVERISETTE 5
Year: 2015
Producer: Fritsch
Description: The planetary mill PULVERISETTE 5 can be used for different types of materials (hard, medium hard, soft, brittle, wet). The milling can be carried out both in dry and wet media, with a speed up to 400 rpm. The equipment has four positions, where two types of containers: zirconium oxide and agate can be used. Each container has a capacity of 250 ml. PULVERISETTE 5 can be used for obtaining colloidal powders as well as for mixing and homogenization of the emulsion slurries.

Equipment name: Laser Particle Sizer ANALYSETTE 22 NanoTec
Year: 2015
Producer: Fritsch
Descrition: The laser particle analyzer determines the distribution and size of solid particles in both liquid and dry media, through laser diffraction. The equipment has a measurement range between 0.01 – 2000 micrometres.

Equipment name: Environmental Test Chamber Dyscovery My 600
Year: 2015
Producer: Angelantoni
Description: The environmental test chamber is controlled by a microprocessor, which ensures an accurate temperature, humidity and reproducible results. The device has a capacity of 553 liters, a temperature range between -40º ÷ 180 ° C and a relative humidity (RH) in the range 10 ÷ 98%. The equipment can be used to simulate the aging processes of the developed materials and to test the effects of some established climatic conditions on them to assess their performance in use.

Equipment name: Universal Oven UF110plus
Year: 2015
Producer: Memmert
Description: The universal oven has a temperature range up to 300 °C, with the ventilation in a spiral. The equipment allows the user to implement different temperature programs with various segments and can save the developed temperature program in case of power failure. It can be used in various applications, such as low-temperature heat treatment, complex procedures with extremely sensitive loadings, for drying and sterilization of laboratory glassware, and also resin hardening.

Equipment name: High temperature furnace LHT 08/18
Year: 2015
Producer: Nabertherm
Description: The high temperature furnace LHT 08/18 has a capacity of 8 liters and can reach a maximum temperature of 1800 °C. The furnace can be programmed with different segments of heating, cooling or maintaining and can be used in laboratory applications, such as materials heat treatments, for ceramic sintering.

Equipment name: Chemical reactor HEL 0.7l, 200bar
Year: 2015
Producer: HEL
Description: The chemical reactor has a container capacity of 700 ml and can be used for a maximum temperature of 250 ºC and a maximum pressure of 200 bar. It is used to obtain nanometric powders through the hydrothermal method.

Equipment name: Analytical Balance AS 220.R2
Year: 2015
Producer: AS.R
Description: The analytical balance has a weighing capacity of 220g, with an accuracy of 0.1mg and a density determination kit. The device can be used in determining the weight of materials prepared for analysis.

Equipment name: Atlas 25T Manual Hydraulic Press
Year: 2015
Producer: Specac
Description: The manual press has a press force of up to 25T and is used to pellet / shaping of powders in different sizes (with 32 mm and 40 mm diameter).

Equipment name: Ion Mill IM4000
Year: 2015
Producer: Hitachi
Description: The ion mill can perform both ion surface polishing and cross sections, using an Ar ion gun with flow control. For accurate positioning of the samples, the equipment has an optical microscope which allows the observation in real time of the grinding advancement. The maximum rate of polishing of the surface is 20μm/h, while for cross sections 300μm/h, at angles ranging from 0 to 90°.

Equipment name: SC7620 Mini Sputter Coater/Glow Discharge System
Year: 2015
Producer: Quorum
Description: The SC7620 Sputter Coater Mini is a compact unit, used for coating a thin conductive layer on the surface of weak or non-conductive samples, for further analysis at the scanning electron microscope (SEM). The system is equipped with a preliminary vacuum pump, a cell for the Au-Pd target, and a cell for the carbon target. The plasma current is variable by adjusting the vacuum level.

Equipment name: PoreMaster-60 GT
Year: 2015
Producer: Quantachrome Instruments
Description: The mercury porosimeter is a complex device for measuring the pore diameter in the range 950000nm – 3.6nm, at pressures between 0 and 414 Mpa, with a resolution of 5 x 10^-6Mpa at low pressure and 6 x 10^-3 MPa at high pressure.

Equipment name: Pyrolysis Installation
Year: 2015
Producer: MTI
Description: The ultrasound pyrolysis installation is used to obtain nanoparticles using different liquid precursors. The equipment consists of a microparticle generator with ultrasound, a horizontal tube furnace and nanoparticles collecting tube. It can generate microparticles from liquid with a diameter distribution between 0.5 and 6 microns.

Equipment name: X-Ray Fluorescence Supermini
Year: 2010
Producer: Rigaku
Description: The X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer Supermini can be used in various fields from research and development to process control analysis, as it can determine the kinds and quantities of elements in a sample. A high voltage is applied to the X-ray tube and primary X-rays are generated from the target, which irradiate the sample generating fluorescent X-rays specific to each of the sample’s compositional element. A spectroscopic analysis is made using a goniometer to measure the intensity of each spectrum.

Equipment name: Electronic Blaine air permeability apparatus E010
Year: 2010
Producer: Servo-Plus Evolution
Description: The Electronic Blaine air permeability device is used to determine the specific surface of a powder material, resulting as measured parameter the fineness of the powder. The specific surface is derived from air’s resistance to flow through a porous bed of powder. The measurement consists in forming the powder into a cylindrical “bed” having a known porosity. The resulted flow-rate of air through the bed determines the specific surface.

Equipment name: Matest C071N Concrete Compression Machine 3000 kN Motorized
Year: 2010
Producer: Servo-Plus Evolution
Description: The Matest C071N is a compression testing machine with 3000 kN capacity, motorized with Servo-Plus evolution control unit (fully automatic model), used in order to test cubes, cylinders and prismatic mortars/concrete specimens.

Equipment name: Ultrasonic Cleaning Unit Elmasonic S60H
Year: 2018
Producer: Elma
Description: The Ultrasonic Cleaning Unit Elmasonic S60H has been designed for the treatment of items and liquids. The equipment is made of cavitation-resistant stainless steel, which facilitates its rapid cleaning. Among the features of the Elmasonic S60H unit, it can be mentioned:

sweep function, for an optimised sound field distribution in the cleaning liquid;
degas function, for the efficient degassing of the cleaning liquid and for laboratory purposes;
auto degas function for automatic degassing cycles;
temperature-controlled ultrasonic operation;
automatic mixing during heating-up period.

Equipment name: Grinding and polishing machine SAPHIR 330
Year: 2017
Producer: ATM
Description: The Saphir 330 is an electronically controlled grinding and polishing machine that is designed exclusively to execute grinding and polishing work of embedded or non-embedded samples automatically or manually. The grinding and polishing machine si configured for the mechanical preparation of many metallic and non-metallic materials.

Equipment name: Compact Centrifuge Z 206 A
Year: 2017
Producer: HERMLE Labortecnik
Description: The compact centrifuge was designed to separate materials or mixtures with different densities.