CEPT University | Material Testing Laboratory

The CEPT Material Testing Laboratory offers top-notch testing capabilities for the basic materials used in construction. This laboratory is a platform facilitating teaching, research, and professional consultancy at CEPT University. The laboratory staff are well trained to conduct the experiments. To maintain the integrity of the results, all instruments and equipment in the laboratory are periodically calibrated. The construction materials and tests which can be performed as per Indian Standards in the laboratory.

1. Material Testing Laboratory Major Instruments

2. Universal Testing Machine A Universal Testing Machine is used to determine the tensile strength, flexural strength, and compressive strength of materials like concrete, bricks, paver blocks, AAC blocks, wood, steel, etc. This computerized equipment has a digital pressure unit and is capable of measuring load between the range of 0.030 kN to 600 kN.

3. Mortar Vibrating Machine This instrument is used to compact mortar mix for the compressive strength test of cement. 7.06 cm size mortar cube is vibrated at a frequency of 12000 + 400 vibrations per minute to compact the cube.

4. Aggregate I mpact V alue Apparatus This instrument is used to determine the impact value of coarse aggregates. It consists of a hammer of weight 13.5 to 14.0 kg having a free fall of 380 ± 5.0 mm. The weight of a certain size of disintegrated material after giving a certain amount of impact is measured to determine the impact value of coarse aggregates.

5. Abrasion Testing Machine This instrument is used to determine the abrasion value of tiles, paver blocks, etc. A specimen of size 70 x 70 mm is to be placed in the machine. Some abrasive material is sprayed on the disc and then the disk is rotated at a rotating speed of 30 RPM.

6. Fully Automatic Compression Testing Machine This equipment is used to determine the compressive strength of Concrete Cylinders/ Cubes, Paver blocks, Bricks, AAC blocks, etc. This computerized machine has a digital controller and is capable of measuring load between the range of 0.1 kN to 3000 kN.

7. Concrete Mixture - Drum Type This drum-type tilting Concrete mixture is used to mix materials like cement, coarse and fine aggregates, water, etc. to make a concrete mix as per the concrete mix design. The capacity of this mixture machine is 0.75 cement bags.

8. Compaction F actor A pparatus This equipment is used to measure the workability of fresh concrete. A compaction factor test is conducted to determine the workability of the concrete. The compaction factor test is generally conducted on concrete samples having very low workability .

9. Flow Table A flow table test on concrete is done to determine the fluidity of concrete. This also indicates the workability of the concrete. The top diameter of the mould used in this test is 17 cm and bottom diameter is 25 cm. The drop applied is 12.5 mm during the test. The base plate diameter is 76.2 cm.

10. Air Entrainment Meter This instrument is used to determine the air content of fresh concrete. It consists of a pressure-tight flanged cylindrical measuring bowl fitted with a removable flanged and a conical cover assembly with a seal in between. The conical cover has an air valve and a pet cock for bleeding off the water. A cylindrical standpipe, which is graduated in percent air content, is fixed on the conical cover assembly. The required pressure is applied to the specimen with the help of a pressure bulb. This instrument has a capacity of the measuring bowl of 0.005 cubic meters (5kg), suitable for aggregate sizes up to 38mm.

11. Concrete Permeability Test Apparatus with Air Compressor This apparatus is used to determine the depth of penetration of water under pressure in concrete specimens. The test is performed on the specimen either cubic (150 mm) or cylindrical (150 mm dia. X 160 mm high). It is fitted with an assembly to hold an end pressure gauge of 15kg/cm 2 (15 Bar) and a chamber pressure gauge of 20 kg/cm 2  (20 Bar) with another pressure gauge of 15 kg/cm 2 (15 Bar) on the chamber to show the inlet pressure. The specimen is put into the test chamber, and then a known water pressure is applied on the specimen’s surface for a prescribed time as per the respective standard, by using a suitable air compressor. The water penetration is measured by breaking the specimens.

12. Rebound Hammer Rebound Hammer is a Non-destructive testing instrument that provides a rapid indication of the compressive strength of the concrete. It measures compressive strength in the range of 10 to 60 N/mm 2 .

13. Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity Tester Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity (UPV) test is used to determine the integrity and quality of structural concrete. This instrument can measure the travel time of sonic waves between 0.1µs to 9999 µs. It is accompanied by transducers of 54 kHz & 150 kHz frequency with a cable length of 1.5m.

14. Concrete Core Drilling M achine The concrete drilling machine is used to take out the concrete core from the RCC element to measure the compressive strength of the concrete. It is a partially destructive test. The size of the UCL core drill bit is 70 mm.

15. Humidity Chamber A humidity chamber is used to maintain standard humidity and temperature conditions for cement tests. The temperature range of this equipment is 50 & 60 C ± 0.5 C and humidity range is Up to 95 ± 3%.

16. Geotextile Permeability Test Apparatus This apparatus is used for determining the hydraulic conductivity (water permeability) of Geo‑Textiles in terms of permittivity under standard testing conditions, in the uncompressed state. It consists of overhead and discharge collection tanks capacity of 100 l.