The Concrete Materials Laboratory consists of 14 rooms and covers more than 5,000 square feet. Rooms are designed to prepare and test paste, mortar and concrete specimens. Aggregate can be characterized, crushed, sieved, blended and tested. Concrete mixtures can be prepared in large drum or pan mixers at room temperatures or temperatures that mimic on-site conditions. Samples can be moistcured in a 300 square-foot temperature-controlled room. The laboratory is well equipped to determine various fresh (including setting) and hardened properties, including, for example, creep, shrinkage and cracking potential. The strength of various specimens can be tested in either a 600-kip or 100-kip compression testing machine. Specialized equipment in the laboratory includes two semi-adiabatic calorimeters, one isothermal calorimeter (TamAir), one isothermal calorimeter (IsoCal), six temperature-controlled water baths (PolySciene) and two walk-in environmental chambers.
