The porosity of building materials

The porosity is the term used to describe one of the important physical properties of most materials, including construction. The porosity of the material is determined by measuring the number of voids inside it and the determination of what percentage of the total volume of the material occupies empty space. The measurement of porosity varies, depending on the material. Both high and low porosity affects how the material is used.

In fact, porosity is slightly greater than the percentage of voids inside the material. Porosity has other properties, for example, related to the shape or size of voids. Another property of porosity is the relationship of voids among themselves. If all spaces are discrete and isolated from each other, the material will behave differently than if the voids were connected, even if the percentage of empty space in two samples will be the same. A well -known construction example of such a difference is various types of cellular concrete. Depending on the technologies that are used in the production of construction cellular concrete, the cells can be closed, communicated and open.

On the example of cellular concrete, you can also trace the dependence of the properties of the material on its porosity. For example, the more porous cellular concrete, the easier it is, but its strength is less. The higher the porosity, the stronger it is, but the worse its heat -insulating and soundproofing qualities.

Porosity affects the properties of various building materials, even such as wood, stone, ceramics, bricks. There are many ways to measure porosity, including soaking materials, which allows you to see how much water they absorb. In certain cases, you need to have an idea of ​​two types of porosity: primary and secondary.

The porosity plays a role in different processes that are not even related to direct construction. For example, porous membranes filter various materials, and the effectiveness of the filter is limited to the size of pores.