Metals, Glass and Plastics as Building Materials

1. The history of building in iron and steel is hardly more than a hundred years old. The construction of the first railways has given considerable impetus to cast and wrought iron production. The commonest quality of steel for building construction is that known as mild steel (m.s.). Several qualities of high tensile steel are widely used everywhere. They vary both in their chemical composition and their mechanical properties. The elements used for most steel structures are the hot-rolled sections, produced in a great variety by the rolling mills.

2. Aluminum is the most important of the light metals used in the building industry. Magnesium is still lighter, but it has not yet become a building material. It is only used as an alloying metal in conjunction with aluminum. The major characteristics of aluminum in which the architect is interested are its durability and its light weight.

3. Glass is now generally employed in the construction of industrial buildings, office blocks and schools. In recent years it has eclipsed all other materials for heat and sound insulation purposes.

4. Plastics are a new building material. Nearly all the plastics are compounds of such simple elements as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and sometimes nitrogen. The characteristics of the various plastics depend upon the way in which these elements are combined. Plastics are used where the older materials are not satisfactory, or for the development of entirely new uses. Since plastics combine all the fine characteristics of a building material together with good insulating properties, and are fireproof as well, it is no wonder that the architects and engineers have turned to them to add color and beauty to modern homes and offices.

VII. Read the statements. Mark with the letter "t" if the statement is true and with "f" if the statement is false

1. People began to use iron and steel for construction more than three hundred years ago.

2. The rolling mills produce a lot of hot-rolled sections, because they are necessary for most steel structures nowadays.

3. Plastics, a new building material, cannot have nitrogen in their composition.

4. Plastics have impressed the builders with a number of good properties and they are now being used for construction.

Part III

I. Copy the sentences. Underline predicates and define their tenses and voice. Translate the sentences

1. The first house of the ancient people had been built with only one purpose - to give them shelter.

2. A man who designs buildings and superintends their construction is called an architect.

3. Our builders are using new technologies of construction nowadays.

II. Copy the sentences and translate them

1. Architecture is the art and the science of building.

2. Having dried the bricks in the sun, the ancient Egyptians built simple houses.

3. They have not used facing materials.

III. Copy the sentences using proper voice and tense-forms of the verbs given in brackets. Translate the sentences

1. He couldn't understand why more and more people (to move) to urban places from rural parts of the country.

2. We were told that Cathedral (to build) a century ago.

3. The builders (hoped) that their creation would be admired by everyone in the town.

IV. Copy and translate the complex sentences with asyndetical subordinate clauses

1. Stone, marble, and granite were the main building materials people have used since the earliest times.

2. The builders informed the students they would reconstruct their hostel in July.

3. The house I live in has all modern conveniences.

V. Copy the sentences. Underline infinitives, Participles (I or II), Gerunds and define their functions. Translate the sentences

1. Availability, cost and physical properties are to be considered when selecting materials for construction.

2. To know the principal features of building materials is very important for any building engineer.

3. Architects can use now a greater variety of facing materials, such as glass plate, ceramics, plastics, etc.

VI. Read and copy the text, given below. Translate it in a written form

Notes:

compressive strength - міцність на стиск

grind (ground, ground) — розмолоти

high alumina cement - цемент з високим вмістом глинозему

puzzolana - пуцолан (цемент)

retaining wall - опорна стіна

Cement

1. The requirements to be fulfilled by concrete vary to a great extent. One of the essential properties of concrete is its compressive strength. From the time of its first production more than a century ago there was a steady and gradual improvement in the compressive strength of Portland cement until the beginning of the war.

2. Portland cement is a product obtained by mixing and then burning two raw materials, the one composed largely of lime and the other of material containing silica, alumina and iron. The two raw materials are ground and mixed to give definite proportions of lime, silica, alumina and iron oxide. The finished product should receive no addition other than gypsum. Portland cement can to some extent be modified to suit a particular application. It has led to the development of an increasing variety such as high alumina cement and puzzolanas.

3. With the cements now available much higher strengths can be obtained than some 60 years ago. The increase in strength is partly due to the increased fineness to which modern cements are ground. Cement develops heat during hydration. This is of considerable importance in certain types of concrete construction, particularly in structures of large volume, such as dams, massive retaining walls and the like. A very high rate of heat development is advantageous in work done in cold weather, so as to protect the fresh concrete from the effect of low temperatures.

4. Selection of the cement alone does not ensure concrete with the properties desired, which depend also on the choice of aggregates and mixes, the control of the quantity of water added to the mix, and on a series of other factors. It should be noted that cement is the most important component of concrete.