Assignment: Modern Construction Materials

CE5101 – Modern Construction materials
Assignment – 1 We have a huge variety of construction materials available to us today. The following are the list of construction materials which have been used or could be used.
Commonly used construction materials:
• Concrete:
It is a composite material consisting of coarse aggregate (mostly gravel), fine aggregate (sand), binder (mostly Portland cement) and water. It may also contains chemical admixtures like superplasticizers, accelerators, retarders, corrosion inhibitors, etc. and mineral admixtures like fly ash, silica fume, metakaolin, etc. Concrete is also used to make masonry units like bricks and blocks. Some of the newer varieties of concrete available are high strength concrete, self-compacting

It is a sustainable construction material and awareness about the material is slowly but surely increasing.
• Fly ash based products:
Some of the fly ash based green materials which are starting to be used are fly ash bricks, fly ash walls, land filling using fly ash, and “Fal-G” – a mix of fly ash, lime and gypsum which can be used as a binder. Cellular light weight concrete is made using fly ash and cement. It is much lighter and is especially useful in tall buildings to reduce weight. Fly ash can also be mixed into traditional clay bricks.
• Foam:
Synthetic polystyrene and polyurethane foam are used with materials like concrete to increase the insulation capacity. They are also light weight and can be easily shaped. They can be used with wood as well.
• Mud bricks, rammed earth, compressed earth blocks, wet laid clay walls, terracotta, etc.:
Clay and other earth based materials were used directly in the past but are not very favoured now a days. Most of these materials involved shaping or compression of wet clay/ soil and then allowing them to

Ice is mostly used now a days for building tourist attractions in colder countries, e.g.: ice hotels.
• Fabric:
Tents like the conical tepee are used by travellers and nomadic groups. It is not very prevalent in contemporary construction activities but is still used by some people.
• Thatch and brush:
Grass and plant based building materials used for making huts by tribes in old times. Some revival has happened with a few cases of thatch with special tiles used for roofing but it is not very