INVESTIGATION OF BUILDING-MATERIALS USING SEM AND EDX

Investigations of building materials by means of SEM and EDX allow the determination of elemental distributions and reaction processes in th e analysed objects. Samples of a highway bridge pier have been examine d for the influence of humidity. It could be shown that alcali silica- acid reactions appear at the bottom of precipitations at aggregate gra in boundaries. In another investigation samples originating from a med ieval building have been analysed. The results prove that it would hav e been possible to manufacture large jointless flooring with the known technology even a few hundred years ago.