Construction materials. Geology, production and applications / Строительные материалы. Геология, производство и применение

This book comprises 20 chapters that cover the entire set of materials commonly used in construction activities today, in buildings and infrastructure, all over the world. Moreover, an insight into the traditional use of construction materials, for example, stone, lime, ceramics, and wood, is provided in view of their relevance in historical heritage. Emphasis is give to the innovation of modern materials that took place in the past century, which resulted in the construction framework that characterizes our urban and logistics landscape at present. Thus, concrete, glass, metal alloys, bitumen products, new ceramics, and many other products used either as main component or minor part of buildings and infrastructures are described. Interestingly, the book offers a multifold approach to construction materials, encompassing the geological perspective and natural occurrence of raw materials, their extraction and treatments, as well as market and economics, without forgetting environmental constraints derived from their preparation and use.

Such an integrated view of both natural and manufactured materials requires an exhaustive compilation of data dealing with geology, mining, transforming industries, and trading, which demands a sound authorship. In this respect, Manuel Bustillo Revuelta took the advantage of a large part of his professional career, almost 40 years, acquiring quite a lot experience in the topic because of both research and teaching. As shown in this book, talking about construction materials needs a multidisciplinary approach by the author, which was fed through continuous visits to mines, quarries, and factories, encounters with other experts, etc., a task accomplished over the years and in several countries. I had the opportunity to share some of those activities with the author and, believe me, it is an experience that requires permanent contact with the industrial sectors, including fluid supervision of trade markets. As the editing of this book was completed during the covid-19 pandemic, it was, therefore, not possible to provide statistics on current production and economical perspectives, in a time when many uncertainties still exist <...>