Construction Materials Production
Introduction
Construction material is a raw material or, more frequently, a manufactured product used in the construction of buildings or civil engineering works.
Construction materials are the components of the constructive and architectural elements of a building or construction.
Origins
Since the beginning, human beings have modified their environment to adapt it to their needs. To do this, it has made use of all types of natural materials that, with the passage of time and the development of technology, have been transformed into different products through manufacturing processes of increasing sophistication. Unprocessed natural materials (stone, wood, clay, metal, water) are called raw materials, while products made from them (plaster, cement, steel, glass, brick) are called building materials.
However, in construction processes some raw materials continue to be used with little or no prior treatment. In these cases, these raw materials are also considered construction materials themselves.
For this reason, it is possible to find the same material included in different categories: for example, sand can be found as a construction material (beds or beds of sand under some types of pavement), or as an integral part of other construction materials (such as "Mortar (construction)" mortars), or as a raw material for the production of a different construction material (glass, or fiberglass).
The first materials used by man were clay, stone, and plant fibers such as wood or straw.
The first "manufactured materials" by man were probably mud bricks (adobe), which date back to 13,000 BC. C,[1][2] while the first known baked clay bricks date from 4000 BC. C.[1].
Among the first materials we should also mention fabrics and skins, used as envelopes in stores, or as primitive doors and windows.
In the contemporary theory of architectural construction, a transition process is recognized from monomaterial and homogeneous systems - in which a single material simultaneously resolved the structure, enclosure and formal expression - towards models based on the specialization and differentiation of materials according to their specific function. This evolution implies the abandonment of continuous mass as the dominant construction principle and the adoption of a stratified system, in which each component responds to specific structural, thermal, mechanical and protection requirements. In this context, the envelope is no longer conceived as a uniform limit to become a complex set of differentiated layers, articulating the separation between the load-bearing core and the outer skin, characteristic of contemporary construction.[3].