Geomaterials are of enormous economic importance to the global construction industry. This is the first comprehensive guide to the petrography of geomaterials, making the petrographers specialist knowledge available to practitioners, educators and students worldwide interested in modern and historic construction materials, be they microscopists or in the fields of geology, architecture, surveying, engineering, construction, archaeology, conservation, materials science and forensic science.
The book provides some 365 superb quality colour photomicrographs of geomaterials plus concise explanations of their petrographic properties and how to interpret them.
An introductory chapter provides an overview of geomaterials practice and a state-of-the-art review of petrographic techniques. Each of the subsequent chapters covers a different group of construction materials and includes an explanation of their history, manufacture and use in construction. The text draws upon diverse published references to provide a unique summary of the properties and classification of construction materials. Comprehensive lists of further reading are provided for each materials type.
Readership: Practitioners, educators and students in Petrography, Microscopy, Geology, Surveying, Engineering, Archaeology, Conservation, Architecture, Materials science and Forensic science.
Introduction. Building stone. Roofing slate. Aggregates. Concrete. Concrete products. Flooring materials. Mortar. Bricks. Bituminous mixtures.
Biography
Jeremy Ingham,
...a superbly illustrated text that will introduce many practitioners of mineralogic, petrographic and micromorphologic subdisciplines of geosciences to the intriguing and fascinating ‘world’ of the microscopic examination of a wide range of building materials... a formidable set of colour photographs... an excellent desk-top manual for anyone interested in geomaterials; this book has been written by a practising expert and reflects the interest and passion that the author brings to his subject not only in the larger details but in the many small but exceptional points of interest required when viewing and understanding these complex geomaterials... covers almost all building stone materials that one is likely to encounter in the construction industry... Ingham brings fresh insight to these materials... an enormous body of work is covered in this text accompanied by such superb illustrations. Ingham has produced an excellent review of geomaterials and has, at the same time, introduced a strongly applied aspect to this work. The link between geosciences and geomaterials could not have been better achieved... this text will become the benchmark on geomaterials for years to come... much is to be learned from this very useful text’s approach and insightful commentary and illustrations.
—John Menzies, Proceedings of the Geologists' Association, July 2011
...a worthy contribution to this growing area, which bridges the earth and materials sciences with significant reference to the underlying chemistry and crystallography. In doing so, its relevance to the practice of civil engineering is emphasised through well-chosen examples of materials in service and of their failure, induced by numerous mechanisms. Aimed at the practicing materials specialist, this book will also be of considerable value to those whose role involves interpreting expert opinion on geomaterials and to students of this field... illustrated with carefully selected micrographs and phot
