Construction materials research in the Engineering Technology and Construction Management Department at UNC Charlotte is supported by the following facilities and equipment. Our research capabilities are always expanding, so please contact me if you have questions regarding tests or equipment not discussed below.
Concrete and Cementitious Materials Research Laboratories
The concrete and cementitious materials research laboratories include specimen preparation and test equipment supporting mechanical property and durability performance testing. Equipment is available to support a number ofhardened concrete tests including those outlined in ASTM C138, ASTM C39, ASTM C42, ASTM C78, ASTM C215, ASTM C469, ASTM C496, ASTM C567, ASTM C642, ASTM C1152, ASTM C1202, ASTM C1585, and ponding sorptivity. A walk-in environmental chamber includes test apparatus required for ASTM C512 and ASTM C531. Several other environmental chambers are also contained in these laboratories. Non-destructive testing and evaluation equipment available to support research includes surface resistivity meters, maturity meters, XRF equipment, field air/water permeability test equipment, acoustic emission equipment (with a waveform capture system), ultrasonic pulse velocity equipment. Equipment is available to determine chloride content of concrete and powder samples from concrete. Petrography and microscopy capability is available, with sample preparation equipment and optical equipment (stereomicroscope with digital image analysis system) housed here. The university also has SEM, EDX, and XRF capabilities.
Structures High Bay Laboratory
This nearly 5000 ft2 laboratory is equipped to perform large scale testing of structures and materials. The lab contains a 500 kip load frame (14ft by X 50 ft by 14ft high), 10-ton bridge crane, hydraulic power unit, a 300 kip bidirectional cylinder with load cell, a 50 kip load cell, 2 forklifts, a 200 kip UTM,a 20 kip servo hydraulic load frame, drying oven, and a data acquisition system. This area is also used for batching and testing concrete and mortar mixturesin portable batch mixers and stand mixers. A500 ft2climate controlled curing room is also located in this laboratory. Equipment to support ASTM C944 is also available.
Construction Materials Laboratory
This laboratory includes aggregate evaluation equipment, including sample splitters, sieve analysis equipment, unit weight measures, drying ovens, specific gravity devices and an LA Abrasion testing machine. A 500 kip compression testing machine is also housed in this lab.
Materials Characterization Laboratory
Analytical capabilities provided by this laboratory include thermal analysis (thermal conductivity, heat capacity) rheology, and microcalorimetry. Additional information on this facility can be found at http://eng-resources.uncc.edu/mcl/.
Analysis and Materials Testing Laboratories
The Stress Analysis and Materials Laboratories house test equipment to perform nondestructive testing for cracks and porosity, and equipment used to develop stress-strain relationships. Included is an Instron electronic screw driven UTM, as well as a MTS Landmark servo-hydraulic materials testing machine with a 100 kN load cell and an integral environmental control chamber capable of low and high temperatures. Associated test equipment to support data collection using electrical resistance strain gages is also available.
Technology Transfer Capability – Distance Education Classrooms
UNC Charlotte is equipped with several facilities to support distance education and technology transfer for workforce training and development.
