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The department of civil engineering offers building material tests, supervision, certification and expertises for almost the entire field of civil engineering.

Our fields of activity

  • Mechanical technological testing of building materials
  • Chemical analysis of inorganic building materials and chemical-microbiological analysis of wood and wood-based materials
  • Testing, inspection and certification body (PÜZ-Stelle) recognised by the building authorities and notified at European level, with which inspection and certification contracts for building materials, components and types of construction can be concluded. The recognition covers almost all building products - from cement to prefabricated houses
  • Supervision of ÜK 2/3 concrete construction sites and concrete rehabilitation measures
  • Expert activities for the assessment of building materials, constructions and structural damage.
  • Processing of research and development projects in the fields of conventional building materials, recycled building materials as well as wood and wood preservation; wood cultural heritage management

Projects

Utilization of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) waste as filler in gypsum based building materials

This project investigates in collaboration with Hochschule Nordhausen the use of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) waste as filler in gypsum mortar for lightweight steel frame panels and dry-mix mortar.

This development of gypsum based building materials aims at a high substitution of gypsum binder with autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) waste in order to achieve closed-loop recycling. Different reological properties and AAC particles sizes are required for the production of panels and dry-mix mortars. The production of panels requires low viscosity mixtures, whereas the dry-mix mortar requires high viscosity, plasticity and good adhesion. First, the AAC waste is processed and characterized. Then formulation are tested in laboratory and relevant properties are determined. In a second step, the recycability is investigated using material with AAC filler from the previous step. 

This project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research via the Innovation & Structural Change funding measure in the WIR! - Change through innovation in the region.

Processing: IWT-WT-MPA-Bauwesen

Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Cooperation partner: Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences / Thuringian Innovation Center for Recyclable Materials

Contact:
Dipl.-Ing. Hakan Aycil
Phone: +49421 53708 60
E-mail: aycil(at)mpa-bremen.de

Production of low-CO2 eco bricks through binder-free autoclaving of RC crushed sands

Climate protection and the Green Deal will dominate economic and social development in Europe in the coming decades. To achieve climate neutrality by 2050, the construction industry and also the production of building materials must be significantly transformed. Innovative approaches are needed.

In Germany, approx. 55 to 60 million tonnes of recycled aggregates from construction waste are processed annually in varying material quality and have so far been largely used in earthworks and road construction (downcycling). Estimates show that half of this is accounted for by concrete and half by mixed masonry. While there is almost no sales problem for coarse recycled aggregates, fine RC aggregates can currently only be marketed at low revenues or not at all ("recycled sand problem"). The aim of the planned project is to develop low-CO2 masonry bricks (eco-masonry bricks) through hydrothermal autoclaving of RC crushed sands that require as little primary binder (lime) as possible by activating lime (up to 60 kg/t contained in crushed concrete). The basic feasibility of the innovative approach has already been proven in specific areas within the framework of preliminary tests. With the planned investigations, the relationships between the raw material properties (crushed sands from concrete, sand-lime bricks and bricks, natural aggregates and quicklime), the procedural manufacturing parameters (recipe, mixing process, compaction and autoclaving) as well as the quality characterising property values of the eco-masonry bricks are to be determined and modelled in a practical manner. For SMEs (recycling companies and sand-lime brick plants), practical basic knowledge is created that can be transferred directly into production practice without major investment.

Processing: IWT-WT-MPA-Bauwesen, Bimolab gGmbH

Funding: Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy based on a resolution of the German Bundestag

Application: Forschungsvereinigung Recycling und Wertstoffverwertung im Bauwesen e.V. (RWB)

Duration: 01.05.2021 to 30.04.2023

Contact:
Dipl.-Ing. Frank Hlawatsch
Telefon: +49421 53708 22
E-Mail: hlawatsch(at)mpa-bremen.de

 

Gypsum-bonded building boards made from fine recycled aerated concrete crushed sand

In this basic research project, a sulphate-bound mortar using aerated concrete crushed sand for the first time is to be developed and tested for the production of new, innovative building products based on common gypsum building materials.

Gypsum waste, especially from building returns, is often landfilled. The phase-out of coal-fired power generation is creating a shortage of gypsum as a raw material source and is leading to increased use of natural gypsum. Aerated concrete rubble is also predominantly landfilled, since a quantitatively relevant implementation of previously developed recycling paths has not yet taken place. In the basic research project, a sulphate-bonded mortar is therefore to be developed and tested using aerated concrete crushed sand for the first time for the production of new, innovative building products based on common gypsum building materials. For this purpose, aerated concrete crushed sand will first be procured, prepared and characterised in detail. In the laboratory, suitable formulations are developed by substituting the gypsum content with aerated concrete crushed sand and determining relevant mortar properties. In addition to the use of a commercially available gypsum binder, a recycled gypsum (fired to anhydrite) will also be used. In addition, the recyclability of the recycled product will be investigated. For this purpose, the investigated sample material from the first recycling cycle is to be processed and sulphate-bound building materials are to be produced from it again. In addition, production tests on plants of an industrial partner are planned. All investigations are open-ended and are to be understood as systematic basic research for this new, innovative working hypothesis with the aim of producing new, resource-efficient gypsum building materials with reduced gypsum contents and maximum aerated concrete crushed sand contents that are interesting in terms of construction technology.

This project is funded by the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development on behalf of the Federal Ministry of the Interior, for Building and Home Affairs with funds from the Zukunft Bau research promotion programme.

Processing: IWT-WT-MPA-Bauwesen

Funding: Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development at the Federal Office for Building and Regional Planning

Cooperation partner: Nordhausen University of Applied Sciences / Thuringian Innovation Centre for Recyclable Materials

Contact:
Dipl.-Ing. Hakan Aycil
Fon: +49421 53708 60
Mail: aycil(at)mpa-bremen.de

 

Reet research in Lower Saxony: Long-term studies through model roof tests

In this short-term project, the investigation of the model roof system is planned for 2020, i.e. 11 or 12 years after construction, and is financially covered by the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments.

Reed is a natural material that is used as a building material. This distinguishes reed, like wood, from industrially produced building materials, which are characterised by homogeneous reproducibility and thus uniform properties that can often be predicted using model extrapolations. The development of the properties of a natural material can usually only be recognised and assessed on the basis of exemplary long-term tests.
To investigate the phenomenon of premature rotting of reed as a methodical historical roofing material, a model roof test with 13 model roofs was set up in Kranenburg in 2008/2009. Different origins and textures of reed materials were used to gain valuable insights into the onset of the rotting process through comparative serial tests. These previous results are already benefiting the preservation of the monument landscape, as they have been incorporated into the development of test procedures and the definition of limit values for reed qualities.
However, especially for obtaining long-term results, a continuous investigation of this model roof system is of high scientific interest. In this short-term project, the investigation of the model roof system is planned for 2020, i.e. 11 or 12 years after construction, and is financially covered by the Lower Saxony State Office for the Preservation of Monuments.
A continuation of this project for another 5 to 10 years would enable important findings on the long-term behaviour of different thatch qualities, since the system has already been in existence for many years and data for the critical age period of 10 to 20 years of a thatched roof could be collected relatively quickly. For this reason, efforts are underway to obtain funding for this project for the following years in the interest of the preservation of historical monuments.

Working on the project: IWT-WT-MPA-Bauwesen

Funding: Lower Saxony State Office for Monument Preservation

Cooperation partner: Expert and research office Prof. h.c. Dr. Gunter B. Schlechte

Contact:
Dr. forest. Jana Gelbrich
Telefon: +49421 53708 23
E-Mail: gelbrich@mpa-bremen.de

 

Development of collapsible cores to improve the demoulding of aluminium investment casting components and enable the use of more filigree cores

The scientific aim of the project is to gain a deeper understanding of both the setting behaviour of the new core material and the influencing variables on mechanical and technological characteristics.

The research topic is the development of a new core technology with improved properties for decoring investment casting components. Research is being conducted into core materials with defined pressure-stable hollow microspheres as a filler, which can be made to collapse after casting by applying pressure in a targeted manner ("collapse core"). This effect leads to a simultaneous loss of structural stability of the core and a reduction of the core volume. The core residues can then be flushed out.
The scientific aim of the project is to gain a deeper understanding of both the setting behaviour of the new core material and the influencing variables on mechanical and technological characteristics. For this purpose, interactions between the different core components during the pressure load leading to collapse as well as the development of the properties over the entire process chain are to be investigated experimentally and explained theoretically.

Working on the project: IWT-WT-MPA-Bauwesen

Funding: BMWi (IGF project no.: 20858 N)

Cooperation partner: Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Applied Materials Research (IFAM)

Contact:
Dr. rer. nat. Rebecca Horeis
Telefon: +49421 53708 27
E-Mail: horeis@mpa-bremen.de
 
M.Sc. Maike Peters
Telefon: +49421 53708 71
E-Mail: peters@mpa-bremen.de

 

Spray slag - processing liquid blast furnace slags to produce low-CO2-emission hydraulically bound building materials

The aim of the project is to use blast furnace slags, which are used in the production of cement in the form of granulated blast furnace slag, even more effectively.

       

 

To this end, the blast furnace slags are to be sprayed particularly finely while still in a molten state using an innovative spraying technique in order to avoid the time-consuming grinding process and to use the advantages of the ideally round grain shape of the blast furnace slag balls in modern and environmentally friendly concretes.
The high viscosity of blast furnace slags leads to undesirable fibres during atomisation. This is to be counteracted, among other things, by increasing the atomiser gas temperature in order to increase the yield of desired round particles.
On the one hand, this eliminates the need for granulating, drying and very energy-intensive grinding of the blast furnace slags to produce granulated blast furnace slags. On the other hand, the expected ideally round particle shape of the sprayed blast furnace slags means that concretes with a lower cement demand can be expected than when using classic cements containing blast furnace slag. Both savings potentials lead to the expectation of a considerable reduction of previously occurring CO2 emissions in the entire production chain of structural concrete.


Working on the project: IWT-WT-MPA-Bauwesen / IWT-VT

Funding: AUF programme for the promotion of applied environmental research with funds from the ERDF and the State of Bremen, funding code: AUF0014B

This project is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Cooperation partner: HS Bremen, Institute for Building Materials Technology

Kontakt:
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Udo Fritsching
Telefon: +49 (0)421 218-51230
Email: ufri@iwt.uni-bremen.de

M.Sc. Maike Peters
Telefon: +49421 53708 71
E-Mail:peters@mpa-bremen.de

Further development of a process for the production of lightweight foam blocks from coarse aerated concrete granulates in the second utilisation cycle

This goal is to be achieved by reprocessing lightweight foam blocks (LS) in the form of coarse LS granulates (see illustration) using the patent-pending process to produce lightweight foam blocks as a recycled RC building material.

The "process for the production of a building block from coarse aerated concrete recyclates", for which a patent application has been filed, offers for the first time a utilisation path for coarse aerated concrete (PB) granulates, at the end of which there is a building block with properties that are very similar to the primary building material, so that this recycled aerated concrete can be reused at almost the same level.
The process is suitable for coarse PB granulates, which contain more undisturbed PB structure with increasing grain size. The coarse PB granulates are filled into a formwork in the desired component geometry. The remaining pile spore space between the PB granulates is filled with an artificially porous matrix by means of an injection process, the properties of which have been adapted to aerated concrete. After atmospheric or autoclave hardening of the matrix, made on the basis of cement, anhydrite or a fine mortar of cement, lime and quartz powder similar to aerated concrete, the recycled building material is ready for use in its individual form.
The further development project aims to further increase the recyclability of aerated concrete by allowing aerated concrete that has already been recycled for one cycle to be recycled again for at least one more cycle in the form of the lightweight foam block. This is a novelty for mineral wall-building materials.
This goal is to be achieved by reprocessing lightweight foam blocks (LS) in the form of coarse LS granulates (see illustration) using the patent-pending process to produce lightweight foam blocks as a recycled RC building material. In addition to the binder variants cement and anhydrite, the focus of the further development work is in particular on the autoclaved hardened variant, which forms a new aerated concrete structure around the PB and LS granulates. The further development of the process significantly upgrades the primary building material aerated concrete by expanding its recyclability at a high level. This increases the chances of exploitation for the patent applied for.

Editing: IWT-WT-MPA-Bauwesen

Funding: BMWi (via Project Management Jülich, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH)

Contact:
Dipl.-Ing. Frank Hlawatsch
Telefon: +49421 53708 22
E-Mail: hlawatsch@mpa-bremen.de