Building material

Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings and other structures, like bridges.

[1] In history, there are trends in building materials from being natural to becoming more human-made and composite; biodegradable to imperishable; indigenous (local) to being transported globally; repairable to disposable; chosen for increased levels of fire-safety, and improved seismic resistance.

These trends tend to increase the initial and long-term economic, ecological, energy, and social costs of building materials.

Aspects of fair trade and labor rights are social costs of global building material manufacturing.

Plant-based materials are largely derived from renewable resources and mainly use co-products from agriculture or the wood industry.

[4] Brush structures are built entirely from plant parts and were used in various cultures such as Native Americans and[5] pygmy peoples in Africa.

Wet-laid, or damp, walls are made by using the mud or clay mixture directly without forming blocks and drying them first.

Rammed earth is both an old and newer take on creating walls, once made by compacting clay soils between planks by hand; nowadays forms and mechanical pneumatic compressors are used.

[11][12] Mud-bricks, also known by their Spanish name adobe are ancient building materials with evidence dating back thousands of years BC.

An important low-cost building material in countries with high sand content soils is the Sandcrete block, which is weaker but cheaper than fired clay bricks.

The granite-strewn uplands of Dartmoor National Park, United Kingdom, for example, provided ample resources for early settlers.

Circular huts were constructed from loose granite rocks throughout the Neolithic and early Bronze Age, and the remains of an estimated 5,000 can still be seen today.

Slate is another stone type, commonly used as roofing material in the United Kingdom and other parts of the world where it is found.

Wood is a product of trees, and sometimes other fibrous plants, used for construction purposes when cut or pressed into lumber and timber, such as boards, planks and similar materials.

Fired bricks can be solid or have hollow cavities to aid in drying and make them lighter and easier to transport.

The cinder block supplemented or replaced fired bricks in the late 20th century often being used for the inner parts of masonry walls and by themselves.

Wood and natural fibers are composed of various soluble organic compounds like carbohydrates, glycosides and phenolics.

To determine wood-cement compatibility, methods based on different properties are used, such as, hydration characteristics, strength, interfacial bond and morphology.

Recent work on aging of lignocellulosic materials in the cement paste showed hydrolysis of hemicelluloses and lignin[24] that affects the interface between particles or fibers and concrete and causes degradation.

Concrete has been the predominant building material in the modern age due to its longevity, formability, and ease of transport.

Modern buildings can be made of flexible material such as fabric membranes, and supported by a system of steel cables, rigid or internal, or by air pressure.

Glass panes provided humans with the ability to both let light into rooms while at the same time keeping inclement weather outside.

Glass is generally made from mixtures of sand and silicates, in a very hot fire stove called a kiln, and is very brittle.

Glass "curtain walls" can be used to cover the entire facade of a building, or it can be used to span over a wide roof structure in a "space frame".

It requires a great deal of human labor to produce metal, especially in the large amounts needed for the building industries.

The term plastics covers a range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic condensation or polymerization products that can be molded or extruded into objects, films, or fibers.

Combined with this adaptability, the general uniformity of composition and lightness of plastics ensures their use in almost all industrial applications today.

Notable buildings that feature it include: the Beijing National Aquatics Center and the Eden Project biomes.

To facilitate and optimize the use of new materials and up-to-date technologies, ongoing research is being undertaken to improve efficiency, productivity and competitiveness in world markets.

Rapid prototyping allows researchers to develop and test materials quickly, making adjustments and solving issues during the process.