The Laboratory for Polymers
The main activities of the Laboratory for Polymers are:
- quality control of polymeric materials and certification of polymeric materials that are used in the construction industry,
- quality control of the installation of polymeric products to be used in the construction of motorway structures and other buildings,
- determination of the condition of installed polymeric materials in the construction industry and of the reasons for their degradation,
- the provision of support to industry and individuals who encounter problems or have questions in connection with polymeric products,
- research work: the development of the latest kind of photocatalytic coatings and hardeners for the external surfaces of buildings, nanomaterials for use in construction products, and technological procedures for the recycling of construction materials.
Services:
- Testing of the following types of materials and products:
- adhesives for the structural gluing of timber, concrete, metals, and glass, and for the gluing of thermal insulating materials,
- sealing liners for use in tunnels, bridges, landfill areas, roofing works and foundations,
- underlays for roofings and walls,
- geotextiles,
- floor coverings,
- paints and coatings for the protection and decoration of concrete, facades, and interior surfaces,
- thermal insulation products and facade systems,
- polymeric pipes for drainage, water-supply, and gas-supply, and conduit pipes for electrical installations, telecommunications, and optical cables,
- rubber and rubber products,
- road marking materials, retro-reflective sheeting materials, and delineator posts,
- packaging (bags, plastic containers, wrapping products, cardboard-based products, and packaging for the transport of dangerous goods,
- quality control of polymeric products, and within the scope of this work, the performance of assessments, expert opinions, and expert studies,
- surveillance of the quality of polymeric construction materials and of their installation,
- ZAG is a notified body for the certification of construction products at the EU Commission (No. 1404); certification of products (geotextiles, packaging, adhesives, sealing products, etc.) in accordance with the EU legislation about construction products (No. 305/2011) and the Construction Products Act (ZGPro-1),
- the elaboration of technical assessments and agreements for construction products in accordance with the Construction Products Act (ZGPro-1).
Research activities:
- Determination of the physical and chemical processes which take place in construction materials and development of methods for the assessment of the properties of materials
- Study of the possibilities of the use of waste polymers in the construction industry and the development of technological methods for the recycling of such materials
- Study of the effect of artificial ageing on the mechanical properties of materials
- Study of building materials of all types by means of low-vacuum SEM-EDS
- Determination of crystal phase content and microstructure analysis using X-ray powder diffraction
- Development of composite materials
- Modification of the timber elements of buildings in order to increase their durability (the TIGR project)
- Functional coating systems for the long-term protection of building facade surfaces (the EUREKA project)
- Development of consolidants, impregnating agents, coatings, binders, and pigments for the protection of the cultural heritage (the HEROMAT project)
- The use of nanomaterials in the construction industry and the remediation of soils
- Development and application of novel precision methods for waste water treatment (the RusaLCA project)
- Research into advanced materials with photocatalytic activity
- Development of indicators for the quantitative evaluation of UV radiation
- Selective photocatalysis with TiO2 particles
- Development of novel method for surface protection of organic pigment particles
Important items of testing equipment:
- A system for determining the photocatalytic activity of materials in a solid/gas phase system
- Particle Sizer and Zeta Potencial Analyzer NanoBrook Omni, Brookhaven Instruments
- A JEOL LV 5500 low-vacuum scanning electronic microscope, equipped with an Oxford EDS analyzer
- Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM)
- ZWICK Z030 and ZWICK Z100 universal testing machines
- A Kambič kk-340 climatic chamber
- A Nema UV chamber
- A Drop Shape Instrument FTA 1000" for measuring contact angles
- A DRMS Cordless drill
- A STA 409 Luxx instrument for thermal analysis
- A Sonics Vibra-cell ultrasonic bath
- An Xradia MicroXCT-400 High Resolution 3D X-ray Imaging System for microtomography (USA)
- An Empyrean X-ray diffractometer, manufactured by PANanalytical (The Netherlands), equipped with a micro diffraction modulus
- A Horiba Jobin Yvon LabRAM HR800 Raman spectrometer
- A Perkin Elmer Spectrum 100 FTIR microspectrometer
- A Micromeritics ASAP 2020 gas adsorber
- A Carl Zeiss Axio 2009 confocal microscope, with available magnifications of up to 1000x
