CONCEPT OF QUALITY CONTROL

The quality of a product is determined by its users and not by the society or any organization. It is not same as ‘expensive’ or ‘high
quality’. Low priced products can be considered as having high quality if the product or services meet or exceed users’ expectations
which are generally based on performance characteristics, economics and aesthetics of the product. Thus, quality is user’s perception;
whereas, quality assurance (QA) is the process of verifying or determining whether products or services meet or exceed users’
expectations. This process-driven approach consists of systematic monitoring, testing and evaluation of the various aspects of a product,
service or facility to maximize the probability that minimum standards of quality, i.e., high level of acceptance of the product is being
attained by the production process. It includes two basic principles namely, ‘Fit for purpose’, the product should be suitable for the
intended purpose; and ‘Right first time’, mistakes should be eliminated. In addition, QA considers design, regulation of the quality of
raw materials, development, production and services related to production and monitoring or inspection processes. The quality of
products is dependent upon that of the participating constituents, some of which are sustainable and effectively controlled while others
are not. The quality assurance consists of four steps;
(i) Planning which consists of establishing objectives and processes required to deliver the desired results;
(ii) Design, i.e., the implementation the developed process;
(iii) Checking which includes monitoring and evaluation of the implemented process by testing the results against the
predetermined objectives and
(iv) Action, i.e., to take actions necessary for improvement if the results require changes.
These four quality assurance steps are commonly abbreviated as PDCA. PDCA is an effective tool for monitoring quality assurance as it
analyses existing conditions and methods used to provide products to clients. The goal is to ensure that excellence is inherent in every
component of the process. This aspect of QA requires formulation of specification defining the quality requirements. If the specification
does not reflect the true quality requirements; the product’s quality cannot be guaranteed. For instance, the parameters for concrete
should cover not only the materials and structure but also the environmental, safety, reliability and maintainability or serviceability
requirements.
QUALITY CONTROL THROUGH TESTING
The testing is a process of determining certain facts or qualities of a material. Each material that is to be used in construction must have
certain given qualities in order to play its part in the structure. Laboratory and field tests have been devised to determine these qualities
in a comparatively short interval of time. When the test results lie within a certain range, the engineer is confident that in most of the
cases the material behavior will be satisfactory. The results of the tests vary with the method of doing the tests. In order to prevent such
deviation, specifications have been prepared by National Standards for testing the materials.
The quality control generally has two purposes. One to ensure that the workmanship does not fall below certain specified standard and
the other is to limit the overall variation in quality of material. Specifications generally stipulate a limit to the minimum performance
characteristics of material, but no upper limit of performance is specified. In the best interest of economy, however, it is preferred to
keep the greatest values down to as low as possible provided the lowest performance parameter under consideration still complies with
requirements of the specifications. In certain materials, typically concrete, the variations in concrete quality are due to a large number
of factors. Proper control of concrete quality can only be done by organizing an adequate system of testing and inspection.
Reference: Lab Manual building and Construction Materials by Gambhir, M.L. and Jamwal, Neha

Chapter 1: The Testing of Engineering Materials

I. Principles of Testing

The extensive use of experimental studies preliminary to the design and construction of new mechanical or structural elements
and the use of testing procedures for control or established processes of manufacture and construction are significant and well-
recognized features of our technical development. Practically speaking all branches of engineering, especially those dealing with
structures and machines, are intimately concerned with materials, the properties of which must be determined by tests. Successful
mass production depends on inspection and control of the quality of manufactured products, which implies a system of sampling and
testing. Preparation of adequate specification and acceptance of material purchased involve an understanding of method of testing and
of inspection. For intelligent appraisal and use of test of results, it is important for engineers, to have a general understanding of the
common methods of testing for the properties of materials, and of what constitutes a valid test.

II. Subjects in the Study of Material Testing

A. Technique of Testing
✓ How do commonly used types of equipment operate?
✓ Is the apparatus in widespread?

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 ✓ What are the common variants of ordinary apparatus?
✓ What limitations are imposed by the apparatus on the accuracy that can be obtained?
✓ Lacking first-class equipment how can one get rough but significant results from crude tests in the field?
✓ Has the theory of models any application in a given test?

B. Physical and Mechanical Principles Involved in the Testing Apparatus

✓ Are the assumed conditions satisfied?
✓ What is most likely to go wrong or produce incorrect results?
✓ What apparent crudities can be overlooked?
✓ What refinement can be made to obtain greater accuracy?

C. Theory of Measurements
✓ What is the precision of the results?
✓ Which of the measurements involved control the precision of the final result?
✓ Are time and effort wasted securing needless precision in some of the measurements?

D. Variability of Materials
✓ How many tests are necessary to give a significant average?
✓ What variation from the average is cause for rejection of individual values?
✓ What range in strength (or other property) may be expected from a given material as it is used under job
conditions?

E. Interpretation of Results
✓ What is the significance of the test results?
✓ Can the numerical results be applied directly to design and similar uses, or are they of value only for comparison
with other results?
✓ How can the results of arbitrary test be interpreted?
✓ Do the results of arbitrary test have meaning if the test conditions are outside the range of those for which
correlations have been set up?
✓ What are the limitations of the test results, or how reliable are the test data?
✓ How should a satisfactory specification for a given material be written?

With advancement in our technological development, it has a notable improvement in the older type of materials, many discoveries of
new materials, and a variety of new use for all materials. These have greatly extended the scope of material testing and have complicated
its practice. However, the fundamental principles involved in conducting valid and reliable tests are common to all material testing. In
this subject we will address these principles by discussing the ordinary methods of testing the common materials of construction.

III. Engineering Materials

Principal functions of constructional materials are to develop strength, rigidity, and durability adequate to the service for which they
are intended. These requirements define the properties that the materials should possess and determine the nature of tests made on
the materials. Auxiliary constructional materials are sealants, adhesives, and preservative coatings. In general sense fluids and soils, in
addition to solids, are engineering materials whose properties must be found by testing.

Principal Material Use in Building and Machine:

✓ Metals
✓ Woods
✓ Portland cement concrete
✓ Bituminous mixtures
✓ Clay products
✓ Masonry materials
✓ Plastics

PROPERTIES OF ENGINEERING MATERIALS

The partial classification of the properties of engineering materials are:

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 1. General: Density or specific gravity, Porosity, Moisture content, Macrostructure, Microstructure
2. Chemical: Oxide or compound composition, Acidity or alkalinity, Resistance to corrosion or weathering
3. Physico-Chemical: Water-absorptive or water-repellent action, Shrinkage and swell due to moisture changes
4. Mechanical: Strength, Stiffness, Elasticity, plasticity, Ductility, brittleness, Hardness, wear resistance
5. Thermal: Specific heat, Expansion, Conductivity
6. Electrical and magnetic: Conductivity, Magnetic permeability, Galvanic action
7. Acoustical: Sound transmission, Sound reflection
8. Optical: Color, Light transmission, Light reflection
however, the major work of the ordinary materials testing laboratory has to do with mechanical properties and this work is referred to
as “mechanical testing”. For the property of strength, it will be tested for tension, compression, shear and flexure and static impact and
endurance, because the major factor in the life and performance of structure and machine is applied force, strength is the utmost
importance; a first requirement of any engineering material is adequate strength. In its most general sense the term strength may be
taken to refer to the resistance to failure of an entire piece of a material, a small part of it, or even its surface. The criterion of failure
may be either rupture or excessive deformation. From a historical point of view, the earliest test was concerned with the strength of
materials. Therefore, today the term testing machine, used without qualification, refers to a machine for applying known loads

Selection
Serviceability is the ultimate criterion in a choice of materials. One important object of material testing is to aid in predicting or ensuring
the desired performance of material under purchase conditions. In the selection of materials for building of structures and machines,
the problem of quality material, of design, are interwoven.

Selection of materials
In selecting the materials, one must have knowledge or records of performance of these materials in actual service and the results of
test made to supply data on performance. To transform design into actual construction, the constructor or manufacturer should select
from a variety of available grades of materials that the designer specified.

TESTING OF MATERIALS
the testing of materials may be performed with one of three objectives:
1. to supply information on the quality of a product – commercial or control testing
2. to develop new or better information on known materials or to develop materials – material research and developmental work
3. To obtain accurate measures of fundamental properties or physical constant – scientific measurement

A. Commercial testing is concerned principally either with checking the acceptability of materials under purchase specifications or
with the control of production or manufacture:
i. type of test has been specified
ii. standard procedure is used
iii. object is simply to determine whether the properties of a material or of part fall within required limit
B. Material research common purpose:
i. to obtain new understanding of known material
ii. to discover the properties of new materials
iii. to develop meaningful standards of quality or test procedures
C. Scientific testing’s objective is the accumulation of an orderly and reliable store of information on the fundamental and useful
properties of materials with ultimate view of supplying data for accurate analyses of structural behavior and for efficient design;
it requires skill, ingenuity, and resourceful of experimenter if success is to be attained.

Closely related to material testing is “experimental analysis” this differ indicates purpose: the effect and shape of a stressed body and
of a stressed body and of the manner of loading, rather than of the material, are of primary interest.

Experiment vs Test:
Experimentation – means that the outcome is uncertain, that new insights are to gained
Testing – indicates a more or less established procedure, with the limits of the results are generally defined experimentation, especially
on all planned or large scale, ordinarily involves many routine tests

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Field Test vs Laboratory Test:
The difficult or hazardous working conditions, interference, time limitations, test done in the field usually lack precision of similar test
done in the laboratory however, working in the laboratory does not necessarily ensure precision or accuracy some test cannot be made
in the laboratory and others cannot be made in the field, so that the question of field vs. laboratory is not always relevant or important

Classification of Test:
as the usability of a material, or a part after test, test may be classified as:
1) Destructive - test that determine ultimate strength naturally mean destruction of sample
2) Nondestructive - for finished product it is desirable to use nondestructive tests if possible

INSPECTION OF MATERIALS
Despite certain common features of testing and inspection, it is desirable to distinguish them; Testing refers to the physical
performance of operation (tests) to determine quantitative measures of certain properties while inspection has to do with the
observation of the process and product of manufacture or construction for the purpose of ensuring the presence of desired
qualities. In many instances, inspection may be entirely qualitative and involve only visual observation of correctness of the
presence or absence of undesirable conditions like excessive moisture or temperature. On the other hand, inspection may involve
the performance of complicated tests to determine whether specification requirements are satisfied such test are nondestructive,
but not always. Inspection aims at the control of quality through the application of established criteria and involves the rejection
of substandard material. Testing aims to determine quantity, that is, to discover facts regardless of the implication of the results.
Inspection involves human relationship as well as technical duties, not all people can be good inspector

SIGNIFICANCE OF TESTS:
Our concept of the properties of materials are usually idealized and oversimplified, actually we do not determine properties, rather we
obtain only measures or indications or manifestation of properties found from samples of material tested. The measures we obtain
depend on test conditions, which include the way the sample is taken and prepared including particular procedures involved in making
the test. The significance of test is also affected by its reliability in yielding. A measure of the property supposed to be determined the
real significance of any test lies in the extent to which it enables us to predict the performance of a material in service
A test may have significance in one of two ways:
1) it measures adequately a property that is sufficiently basic and representative that the test result can be used directly in design
2) the test serves to identify materials that have been proved by experience to give satisfactory performance
One striking fact to be noted in the study of detailed test data is the variation in the quantitative measures of given properties, this may
be due to the lack of absolute precision in the testing operation or it may be due to actual variation in a given property within samples.
In the interest of efficient testing and reliable results, the test should be designed so that the precision of the various measurements or
operation involved is consistent all throughout.

Precision and Accuracy:

We have used the word “precision” and “accuracy” several times, they are not synonyms. Precision denotes the repeatability of a
measurement while accuracy denotes its closeness to the true value
Measurements may be precise and inaccurate or imprecise and accurate
a. if an instrument consistently gives nearly identical but wrong readings, it is precise and inaccurate
b. if the readings vary considerably, but do center about the true value, they are accurate but imprecise

SPECIFICATION OF MATERIALS:
Specification is the attempt on the part of the consumer to tell the producer what is wanted. The skill and accuracy of a thing can be
specified depending on the state of knowledge concerning it and on the precision in which its qualities will be determined. As the art
and science of testing are advanced, so is the basis for preparation of adequate specifications improved. The effectiveness with which
a thing is specified depends on how well the specification is written and how enforceable the provision is.

Specification Types:
Early specifications were often crude because consumer knew little about the material they tried to specify. Some present-day
specifications are just as crude, and for the same reason a specification is intended to be a statement of a standard of quality.
specification often fall short for the following reasons:
1. it may be so loose as to admit material of inferior quality

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 2. it may be overly restrictive and exclude an equally or more efficient material
3. it may be based on inadequate or improper criteria with respect to the type of service required
4. it may make no provision or inadequate provision for proper enforcement
It is important to note that a specification may admittedly and necessarily be imperfect because it would be impracticable to produce
the ideal material. Practically, specifications are drawn up not for ideal material but for a material that is possible to obtain at reasonable
cost existing conditions of manufacture.
Specification for materials of construction defining its requirement for its acceptability:
1. By specifying the method of manufacture
2. By specifying form, dimensions and finish
3. By specifying desired chemical, physical or mechanical properties

Standard Specification:
Standard specification is the notable development of 20th century. A standard specification for a material is usually the result of
agreement among those concerned among those concerned in a particular field and involve acceptance for by participating agencies
the breadth of acceptance depends to an extent on the scope of influence and authority of the standardizing agencies. The disadvantage
of standard specification is that they tend to “freeze” practices that may be in only the development and thus hinder progress where it
is most needed.

STANDARDIZING AGENCIES:
1. Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE)
2. American Petroleum Institute (API)
3. American Concrete Institute (ACI)
4. American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI)
5. American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
6. American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
7. American Railway Engineering Association (AREA)
8. American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)
International Level:
International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

ASTM perform dual function:

1. standardizing materials specifications and method of testing
2. Improving engineering materials through investigations and research
ASTM’s standardization work comprises in general:
1. the development of methods of testing for materials
2. the setting up standard definition
3. the formulation of materials specification
4. the formulation of recommended practices having bearing on various processes in the utilization of materials

CE 3133 | Construction Materials and Testing