Construction Materials Technologies

Historically, wood, stone, clay, raw soil and terra-cotta are the traditional materials that have conditioned the way we design and construct buildings. Afterward, other materials requiring preparation and complex processes of transformation, such as lime or plaster, were used. Every time we see the birth of new building materials, they are the results of progress made in chemistry and the science of materials. From the 1930s, the plastics processing industry has created new materials using chemical synthesis, the great adaptability of which has made them successful in numerous domains, including construction. The question, for the first time in their history, of the life cycle of these materials, their storage at end of life, and their recycling or their destruction, has been raised. Nowadays, the manufacturing of building materials is an established industry in many countries; a part of the current research work on materials aims at producing more efficient materials, at a lower energy costs and with lesser environmental impacts. On the other hand, a popular interest goes back to the original traditional materials. The present Special Issue aims to publish papers in the area of Materials Construction Technologies, with particular attention on the different technologies employed and the several possible applications they have. Analytical, numerical, and experimental knowledge and models are welcome to exploit the potential benefits offered by new technologies and to revisit ancient technologies.