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Polymers in Building and Construction

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Materials for Construction and Civil Engineering

Abstract

Polymers are materials with increasing utilisation as engineering materials in the last 40 years. The building and construction industry is responsible by more than 20 % of plastics consumption in Europe (commodity and engineering thermoplastics). Thermosets also present an increased utilisation as reinforcing and structural materials, focused in structures where reduced weight and tight time frame are relevant exigencies.

This chapter provides an introductory presentation of the most relevant polymer materials from the point of view of its applications in engineering, with particular focus in building and construction industry. The relationships between structure and performance as well as a set of important material properties of the most relevant polymer materials are provided.

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Bibiliography

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, n°1, 1049-001, Lisbon, Portugal

    António Correia Diogo

Authors
  1. António Correia Diogo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to António Correia Diogo .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Chemical Engineering Dept., Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    M. Clara Gonçalves

  2. Mechanical Engineering Dept., Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal

    Fernanda Margarido

Appendix: The Three-Litre House

Appendix: The Three-Litre House

The three-litre house is a house measuring 100 m2 area and was designed and produced by BASF. It consumes the equivalent of 300 L of fuel per year, or 3 L/m2 per year.The comparison between the cost of running the 3-L house and a traditional house with the same area gives the following results:

  • Reduction in energy consumption: 2,000 L to 300 L of fuel

  • Reduction in carbon dioxide emissions (CO2): 6 tonnes to 1 tonne

  • Heating costs: €1,000 to €150 (Fig. 10.27)

    Fig. 10.27
    figure 27

    Diagram of the “three-litre house”

    Full size image

The reduction in costs is achieved by:

  • Thermal insulation in the walls and ceilings using high-performance polystyrene foam (K<0.17 W m−2 K−1)

  • Heat storage system using the latent heat in polymeric waxes

  • Thermal windows: PVC frames with triple windows

  • Passive use of solar energy

  • Generation of energy using fuel cells

  • Ventilation system

One of the characteristics of the three-litre house is the abundant use of polymeric materials:

  • Polystyrene: in high-performance thermal insulation foams

  • Polypropylene: ventilation systems, energy control system, thermal insulation foam, solar panels

  • Polyurethane: in the form of foams

  • Polyvinyl chloride: ventilation system, energy control system, window frames, solar panels

  • Polyethylene: ventilation system, floor heating

  • Polybutylene: floor heating

  • Engineering thermoplastics: ventilation system, fuel cells, energy control system, solar panels

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Correia Diogo, A. (2015). Polymers in Building and Construction. In: Gonçalves, M., Margarido, F. (eds) Materials for Construction and Civil Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08236-3_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08236-3_10

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-08235-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08236-3

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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