The Institute had set a few active research areas as followed. We are willing to involve with you in the progress of these ongoing research studies upon a medium to long term partnership.
Blockchain in Real Estate

The emergence of blockchain and decentralized networks leads us to think about the possible opportunities that arise from blockchain technologies. Valuation, registrations, compliance checking, customer services, and many other aspects of the real estate business can be automated in a way that minimizes human interaction which also helps in gaining customer trust over the traditional way of business operation. Here at the Institute, we aim to initiate the implementation of blockchain technology within the real estate sector with the aim of achieving better housing affordability and better compliance with the existing relevant legislations.

 

Construction Robotics

Automation and robots are proposed as solutions to industrywide problems of increasing costs, declining productivity, skilled labour shortage, safety, and quality control. To overcome these barriers, construction operations must incorporate automated equipment, means, and methods into their regular practices.

 

ICONSMAT

CO2 Capturing techniques

For many years now, the emission of greenhouse gases had become one of the main concerns of almost any developing industry. The atmospheric concentration of the greenhouse gases is increasing due to the increase in the population of earth and the associated human activities. Moving toward reducing the environmental impacts of greenhouse gases, this research aims to facilitate the implementation fo industrial CO2 capturing methods.

CO2 capturing

Nanomaterials- Graphene
The impressive intrinsic mechanical properties of graphene, its stiffness, strength and toughness, are one of the reasons that make graphene stand out both as an individual material and as a reinforcing agent in composites. They are caused by the stability of the sp2 bonds that form the hexagonal lattice and oppose a variety of in-plane deformations.
The breaking force obtained experimentally and from simulation was almost identical and the experimental value of the second-order elastic stiffness was equal to 340 ± 50 N m-1. This value corresponds to a Young’s modulus of 1.0 ± 0.1 TPa, assuming an effective thickness of 0.335 nm. Defect-free, monolayer graphene is considered to be the strongest material ever tested with a strength of 42 N m-1, which equates to an intrinsic strength of 130 GPa. Fracture toughness, which is a property very relevant to engineering applications, is one of the most important mechanical properties of graphene and was measured as a critical stress intensity factor of 4.0 ±0.6 MPa.
ICONSMAT

 

Extraterrestrial Construction

Having projects going on such as SpaceX to colonize the red planet, Mars, to enable human life on planets rather than earth, here at the Institute of Construction Materials we plan to study the property and the performance of the Mars soil as the most basic component of any future housing structures. Preliminary studies indicate that Additive Manufacturing is a promising technology to build houses on Mars.

The atmosphere on Mars is about 100 times thinner than Earth consist of 96% Carbon Dioxide. The surface temperature at nights is as cold as -61 Celcius degrees and as warm as 21 Celcius degrees during the days. This huge variation of temperature causes many problems for human life. Greenhouse effect, however, can be a good solution to implement. The gravity force on Mars is 38% of the Earth.

Mars Soil ICONSMAT

Solar Energy in Construction

The global initiatives are now heading towards a wider application of renewable energies in many sectors to overcome the global warming issues and its associated greenhouse gas emissions. ICONSMAT always has also been concerned to facilitate the applications of solar energy in modern constructions. From the production of concrete, mining activities, colonizing the Mars, etc. solar energy proved to e a reliable energy source.

 

ICONSMAT

 

Concrete Recycling

As a result of several years of studies on the properties of recycled aggregate, we’re now aiming to facilitate wider use of recycled aggregates in the construction industry as it derives environmental benefits. The construction and demolition waste recycling process had not seen any advancements for several years and this the motive behind this research area. We have solutions for a better and automated recycling process that ultimately will lead to a better quality of the final product.