Syllabus academic year 2008/2009
(Created 2008-07-17.)
BUILDING MATERIAL SCIENCEVBM070

Higher education credits: 6. Grading scale: TH. Level: G2 (First level). Language of instruction: The course will be given in Swedish. Alternative for: V3. Course coordinator: Professor Lars-Olof Nilsson, lars-olof.nilsson@byggtek.lth.se, Byggnadsmaterial. Prerequisites: VBM012 Building Materials. Recommended prerequisits: VBF017 Building Technology. Assessment: As the ordinary examination. Home page: http://www.byggnadsmaterial.lth.se/bml-utb.htm.

Aim
The objective is to give the student a deeper understanding of the relationships between the composition and structure of materials and their mechanical/physical properties and their durability and to give an ability to apply this understanding to various issues in buildings and structures.

Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must

After the course the student should

· understand how properties of materials depend on the composition and structure of materials.

· have deepened knowledge on how material properties are theoretically predicted from their composition and structure.

Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must

After the course the student should

· be able to use models for predicting material properties and performance of materials

· be able to use this knowledge in advanced applications and to generalize it to completely new applications in buldings and structures.

Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must

The student should have obtained a clear picture of what knowledge is required kurs ska studenten ha fått en klar bild av vilken kunskap som behövs för att kunna bedöma egenskaper och beteende hos nya material eller hos befintliga material i nya tillämpningar. Studenten skall inse vikten av ett materials beteende i det långsiktiga perspektiv som produktion och förvaltning av byggnader och anläggningar innebär.

Contents
Deepening of the basic course in Building Materials. The course deals with those important parts of materials in later courses. Material Science (relationship material structure - material properties). Material structure, phase diagrams, composite models. Fracture mechancal properties. Transport processes in porous materials. Moisture in materials. Long term deformations. Methods of measurement. Material testing and translation of results. Deterioration mechanisms. Service life calculations. Environmental consequences of materials.

Relevance for an environmentally sustainable development: The construction industry is the country’s largest consumer of materials. Consequently, a sustainable utilization of materials requires a predictable service-life of our structures. Durability aspects are treated in depth in the course.

Literature
Fagerlund, G, Nilsson, L-O: Text book in Building Materials Science (in Swedish), KFS i Lund AB 2006