Laminate Building Materials

Laminates are a popular building material that is used for flooring projects. One of the major benefits
of laminate flooring in particular is that they offer exceptional value – laminate can be purchased
relatively cheaply and is also able to afford you incredibly easy installation. You can maximize the
investment of your project by way of the money you’ll save installing laminate flooring on your own.
Laminate materials are also inherently durable. They’re not only scratch resistant, but the layer of
protection inherent in laminate flooring will also help ward off every day wear and tear and stains and
other types of issues that you would run into with different types of materials

Materials that are bound together with bitumen are called bituminous materials.
The use of bituminous materials were initially limited to road construction. Now
the applications have spread over the area of roof construction, for industrial
purposes, carpet tiles, paints and as a special coating for waterproofing.

Use of Bituminous Material in Flexible Pavement

The bituminous materials are mostly employed for the construction of
flexible pavement. When the road construction makes use of concrete
slabs, we call it a rigid construction.

The flexible pavement itself have several layers, each having specific
functions to be carried out, under loads. A general flexible pavement layer
in a flexible pavement is shown in figure.3.

Different Layers in a Flexible Pavement Construction

Based on the position and the function of the material, the nature of the
material also varies. The surface course, the binder as well as the base
may be of asphalt. But the type and the properties of asphalt in each of
these layers vary based on the location and the function.
The asphalt in the surface course is different when compared with the
asphalt that is used in the binder course or in the base.

Constituents of Bituminous Materials

Graded aggregate and bitumen are the compositions of bituminous
material. There is a small proportion of air present in the same, which
make the bituminous material a three-phase material.

The whole property of the bituminous material is highly dependent on the

individual properties of each phase and their respective mix proportions.
The two solid phases i.e. the bitumen and the aggregate are different in
nature.

The aggregate is stiff and hard in nature. The bitumen is flexible and vary
under temperature as they are soft. So, the whole performance of the
material is greatly influenced by the bitumen proportion in the whole mix.

The supply of bitumen can be carried out in a variety ways based on

whether the demand is for laying or is to facilitate some other
performance. When the quality and the performance of the bituminous
material is concerned, the aggregate constituent quality is also a primary
factor.

We can either go for continuously graded aggregates, which are called as

asphalt concrete (Before in the UK, it was called as macadam as
discussed in before sections) or else the aggregates used can be gap
graded, which are known as hot rolled asphalts or stone asphalt (This was
known before as asphalts in the UK).

The filler is the fine component of the aggregates, that would pass
through 63 microns. The graded aggregate mix might contain some
quantity of fillers. But when it is not adequate, extra filler either in the
form of Portland cement, or hydrated lime, or limestone dust are used.

Sources of Bitumen
The bitumen has mainly two sources, they are:
o Natural Bitumen
o Refinery Bitumen

Natural Bitumen or Natural Asphalts

The bitumen is obtained from petroleum naturally with the help of
geological forces. They are found to seen intimately connected with the
mineral aggregates. They are found deposited at bitumen impregnated
rocks and bituminous sands that have only a few bitumen in percentage.

The Val de Travers region of Switzerland and the ‘tar sand’ area of North
America gain notable range of bitumen deposits. The rock asphalts gain
bitumen in 10%, in the form of limestone or sandstone impregnated
bitumen.

Lake asphalt composes of bitumen ‘lake’ that is found as dispersed finely

divided mineral matter in bitumen. The roads in the UK make use of
bitumen from the deposits of before mentioned lake deposits found in the
Trinidad Lake.

The asphalt found from the lake are refined to a partial state by heating it
to a temperature of 1600C. This is done in open skill to remove out the
excess water. Later the material is filtered. This is then barreled and
transported.
It is hard to use the material directly on the roads as it consists of 55% of
bitumen, mineral matter of 35% and 10% of organic matter. This even
after treatment is blended with refinery bitumen before use.

Refinery Bitumen
This bitumen is the residual material that is left behind after the crude oil
fractional distillation process. The crudes from different countries vary
based on their respective bitumen content.

It is found that crudes from Middle east and the North Sea have to
undergo further process even after distillation to get final bitumen. These
sources have a very small bitumen content.
 But crude from the Caribbean and around countries give the higher
content of bitumen that can be extracted with great ease.

Manufacture of Bitumen
The manufacture of bitumen is a lengthy process which is represented
briefly in the below flowchart. The bitumen is a residual material. The final
bitumen property will depend upon the extent of extraction, the viscosity,
and the distillation process.

The present refinery plant has the capability to extract bitumen more
precisely as the required viscosity and consistency.

Fig.4: Flowchart Showing Preparation of Refinery Bitumen

Structure of Bitumen
The hydrocarbons and its derivatives formed in a complex colloidal
system will compose to form the bitumen structure.

Bitumen is a colloidal system that dissolves in trichloroethylene. This

solvent is used to determine the constituents that are present in the
bitumen.

The bitumen constituents can be subdivided as follows:

o Asphaltenes: These are found to be insoluble in light aliphatic hydrocarbon

solvents
o Maltenes: These are soluble in n-heptane
The colloidal system of bitumen is a system with solid particles of
Asphaltenes, that together form a cluster of molecules or these can be
micelles; a continuum of Maltenes.
 Based on the micelles dispersion, the bitumen can either exist in the form
of a sol or in the form of a gel. Sol is formed when there is complete
dispersal. The gel is formed when the micelles undergo flocculation to
become flakes.

The bitumen take a gel character, when it has a higher quantity of

saturated oil of molecular weight less. That bitumen with aromatic oils
show sol character. This is one with more Asphaltenes.

Influence of Bitumen Constituents in the Material

Properties
The individual fractions that form a bitumen surely have some
contribution towards the properties of the bitumen material.

o The Asphaltenes is the fraction that shapes body for the material.
o The resin in the bitumen contributes to adhesiveness and ductility of the
material.
o The viscosity and the rheology of the material are taken care by the oils present
in the bitumen material.
o The stiffness of the material is governed by the sulfur that is present in
significant amounts mainly in high molecular weighed fractions.
o The presence of a certain complex of oxygen will affect the acidity of the
bitumen. The acidity of the bitumen is a factor whose determination will help in
knowing the adhering capability of the bitumen with the aggregate particles.

o Paints
o Miscellaneous Building Materials
o Paints are applied on the surfaces of timber, metals and plastered surfaces as a protective layer and at the same
time to get pleasant appearance. Paints are applied in liquid form and after sometime the volatile constituent
evaporates and hardened coating acts as a protective layer.
o Constituents of Paint
o The essential constituents of paints are:
1. Base 2. A vehicle 3. A pigment
4. A drier and 5. A thinner.
o 1. Bases: It is a principal constituent of paint. It also possesses the binding properties. It forms an opaque coating.
Commonly used bases for paints are white lead, red lead, zinc oxide, iron oxide, titanium white, aluminium
powder and lithophone. A lead paint is suitable for painting
iron and steel works, as it sticks to them well. However it is affected by atmosphere action and hence should not be
used as final coat. While zinc forms good base but is costly.
Lithophone, which is a mixture of zinc sulphate and barytes, is cheap. It gives good appearance but is affected by
day light. Hence it is used for interior works only.
2. Vehicles: The vehicles are the liquid substances which hold the ingredients of a paint in liquid suspension and
allow them to be applied on the surface to be painted. Linseed oil, Tung oil and Nut oil are used as vehicles in
paints. Of the above four oils, linseed oil is very
commonly used vehicles. Boiling makes the oil thicker and darker. Linseed oil reacts with oxygen and hardens by
forming a thin film.
3. Pigment: Pigments give required colour for paints. They are fine particles and have a reinforcing effect on thin
film of the paint. The common pigments for different colours are:
 Black—Lamp black, suit and charcoal black.
Red—venedion red, red lead and Indian red.
Brown—burned timber, raw and burned sienna
Green—chrome green, copper sulphate.
Blue—prussian blue and ultra marine
Yellow—ochre and chrome yellow.
4. The Drier: These are the compounds of metal like lead, manganese, cobalt. The function of a drier is to absorb
oxygen from the air and supply it to the vehicle for hardening. The drier should not be added until the paint is
about to be used. The excess drier is harmful because it destroys elasticity and causes flaking.
5. The Thinner: It is known as solvent also. It makes paint thinner and hence increases the coverage. It helps in
spreading paint uniformly over the surface Terpentine and neptha are commonly used thinners. After paint applied,
thinner evaporates and paint dries.

o Properties of an Ideal Paint

o 1. It should be possible to apply easily and freely.
2. It should dry in reasonable time.
3. It should form hard and durable surface.
4. It should not be harmful to the health of workers.
5. It should not be easily affected by atmosphere.
6. It should possess attractive and pleasing appearance.
7. It should form a thin film of uniform nature i.e., it should not crack.
8. It should possess good spreading power.
9. It should be cheap.

o Types of Paints
o Depending upon their constituents there are various types of paints. A brief description of some of them
which are commonly used are given below:
1. Oil Paint: These paints are applied in three co
ats-primer, undercoat and finishing coat. The presence of dampness while applying the primer adversely affect the
life of oil paint. This paint is cheap and easy to apply.
o 2. Enamel Paint: It contains white lead, oil, petroleum spirit and resinous material. The surface provided by it
resists acids, alkalies and water very well. It is desirable to apply a coat of titanium white before the coat of enamel
is applied. It can be used both for external and internal walls.
o 3. Emulsion Paint: It contains binding materials such as polyvinyl acetate, synthetic resins etc.
It dries in 1,5 to 2 hours and it is easy to apply. It is more durable and can be cleaned with water. For plastered
surfaces, first a coat of cement paint should be applied and then the emulsion point. Emulsion paint needs sound
surfaces.
o 4. Cement Paint: It is available in powder form. It consists of white cement, pigment and other additives. It is
durable and exhibits excellent decorative appearance. It should be applied on rough surfaces rather than on smooth
surfaces. It is applied in two coats. First coat is applied on wet surface but free from excess water and allowed to
dry for 24 hours. The second coat is then applied which gives good appearance.
o 5. Bituminous Paints: This type of paint is manufactured by dissolving asphalt or vegetable bitumen in oil or
petroleum. It is black in colour. It is used for painting iron works under water.
o 6. Synthetic Rubber Paint: This paint is prepared from resins. It dries quickly and is little affected by weather and
sunlight. It resists chemical attack well. This paint may be applied even on fresh concrete. Its cost is moderate and
it can be applied easily.
o 7. Aluminium Paint: It contains finely ground aluminium in spirit or oil varnish. It is visible in
darkness also. The surfaces of iron and steel are protected well with this paint. It is widely used for painting gas
tanks, water pipes and oil tanks.
o 8. Anti-corrossive Paint: It consists essentially of oil, a strong dier, lead or zinc chrome and finely ground sand. It
is cheap and resists corrossion well. It is black in colour.

o Application of Paint
o Preparation of surface for application of paint is the most important part in painting. The surface to be painted
should not be oily and it should be from flakes of the old paint. Cracks in the surface should be filled with putty
and then with sand paper. Then primer is applied. Painting work should be carried out in dry weather. The under
coats and first coats must be allowed to dry before final coat is applied.