Laboratory of Composite Materials (LCO)
Created in 2019, the LCO is specialized in the development of composite materials, with emphasis on particulate composites applicable in construction components, but capable of developing composites of different natures using different types of binders. Another specialty is the recovery of waste materials from different industries, with emphasis on steel slag, construction and demolition waste, waste from the ornamental stone industry, waste from the furniture industry and waste from the mineral industry. This laboratory supports the development and evaluation of concrete mixes and special mortars, such as self-compacting concretes, dry concretes, lightweight concretes, geopolymeric matrices and others, with emphasis on dosing methods based on particle packing and rheology. It is an air-conditioned environment and already has equipment such as an oven, muffle furnace, sieve, mixers, presses for low load capacity mechanical tests, molds for regular and reduced-size test specimens, vibrating table, consistency table, refractory hammer, point compression testing equipment, optical microscope, precision scales, desiccator, as well as glassware and utensils. The laboratory has also specialized in the development and dosage of special concretes and for additive manufacturing in concrete (3D printing), and is preparing to house an infrastructure specialized in the rheology of pastes, concretes and mortars, already having research developed in this line and with ongoing research. The LCO has also worked to support the development of materials and technologies for the maintenance and recovery of infrastructure works and has received investments from the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT) in the acquisition of a cyclic testing machine with 75 t capacity, in addition to of a small computer laboratory with computers with high processing capacity for virtual prototyping.
The work carried out at LCO has a direct connection with the area of Construction Engineering, but with a strong interface with Sanitary and Environmental Engineering and Geotechnics, in the areas of waste management and environmental performance and also the development and evaluation of paving materials, reinforcement and stabilization of soil and waste. In relation to other departments, institutions and graduate programs, great potential for interface and support also with the areas of food packaging technology, in the development and testing of polymeric and biopolymeric composites, in addition to the related areas of physics and chemistry infrastructure and expertise in chemical, morphological, mineralogical, microstructural characterization, and phenomena related to cementation processes, among others. Developments in partnership of special composites containing nanomaterials and biomaterials are topics of interest and are conducted in partnership with the Laboratory of Construction Materials, the Sanitary and Environmental Engineering area, as well as other institutions and researchers.