Materials Testing Laboratory Testing Facilities & Consulting Services

Director: Prof. Dr. Hosam Hodhod

The Materials Testing Lab is one of the first labs established in the Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University. It was founded in 1927 and occupied, at that time, the current location of the Systems and Bio-Medical Engineering Department. The lab was later developed and expanded and occupied a separate building with a vast hall incorporating various testing machines with different load capacities (ranging from 50 kg up to 400,000 kg) The laboratory carries out different tests on building materials such as bricks, stones, timber, aggregates, cement, concrete in both fresh and hardened stages, reinforcement steel, gypsum, tiles, ceramics, electric cables and wires, electric insulators … etc. The lab incorporates, as well, a workshop for the preparation of standard test specimens and wooden forms. Special rooms for concrete casting, curing, and carrying out some standard tests are also available in the basement of the building.

The academic staff of the laboratory includes five professors, one associate professor, seven lecturers in addition to a number of assistant lecturers and Teaching Assistants, The academic staff is assisted by a crew of experienced technical staff members. They all cooperate for serving the field of quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) of construction work.

The Materials Testing Lab. currently serves different educational and scientific activities. It serves the undergraduate students in the Faculty of Engineering and different research work carried out by staff members and postgraduate students in the Structural Engineering Department, as well as staff and students of other departments and other university faculties. The lab plays a pioneering role in the QC/QA of construction work using its up-to-date facilities which include:

Equipment for standard testing of concrete aggregates
Equipment for standard testing of different types of cement
Regularly calibrated universal, compression and other testing machines with various load capacities ranging from 50 kg up to 400,000 kg that test different building materials under various loading cases (tension, compression, bending, shear, torsion, impact, fatigue, abrasion, creep and hardness)
Equipment for standard testing of concrete in both fresh and hardened stages
Equipment for non-destructive testing of different elements of existing structures, such as Pundit ultrasonic device, calibrated Schmidt hammer, Windsor probe, Profometer for measuring concrete cover and diameter of steel bars, half cell apparatus for detecting steel corrosion, in addition to thermal insulation and coating thickness measuring devices
Devices for measuring deformations of loaded specimens including those working by laser and acoustic emission
Core drill machine for extracting cores from concrete and masonry elements and structures
An integrated computer lab serving analyzing test data, current research work, and preparation of technical reports and engineering drawings.

Materials Testing Lab also plays a leading role in serving as a consultant and testing lab for different governmental and private organizations as well as individuals in the following fields:

Laboratory Tests:

Standard testing of different building materials
Concrete mix design
Field sampling of building materials and/or fresh concrete for laboratory testing
Preparation and testing of concrete cores extracted from different existing structures
Calibration of instruments and testing machines belonging to different organizations and other testing labs

Field Tests:

Non-destructive testing for quality assurance
Quality control of concrete mixes by conducting field tests on consistency and workability
Extraction of cores from existing structures

Evaluation of Existing Structures :

Technical inspection of materials and components of existing structures
Investigation, measurement and classification of different cracks with interpretation of causes and recommendation of remedial measures
Execution of non-destructive tests and measurements for the evaluation of degree of safety of different structural and non-structural elements in existing structures
Rendering consultation services for repair of structures made of different building materials and subjected to deterioration and/or local failure

Technical Inspection of Construction Work:

Technical inspection of construction work in all of their aspects: material storage, batching, preparation of forms, concrete casting, fixing of connections, reinforcement arrangement, material and concrete sampling and testing.

Preparation of Technical Reports:

Preparation of quality control and standard lab test reports
Preparation of technical reports for structure examination and inspection and evaluation of materials status
Preparation of reports for statistical analysis of lab and field data, using computer software.
Preparation of periodical technical reports and follow-up reports on technical inspection of construction works
Preparation of consulting technical reports on construction problems, obstacles an/or risks.

Training and Educational Seminars

Seminars for upgrading the skills and efficiency of :

Construction engineers supervising work sites
Technicians in work sites
Skilled laborers for different activities in construction field

For more information, please contact : Tel. 35678094 Fax:35694392