Specimen production / sample preparation

• Concrete laboratory including concrete mixers 75 l and 350 l, fresh concrete testing, production of concrete specimens
• Cement and mortar laboratory including different mixers, fresh mortar testing, production of mortar samples
• Aggregate testing laboratory: sieving machines, Los Angeles test
• Devices for concrete cutting and polishing
• Concrete cutting and polishing, core drilling machines
• Laboratory van for on-site testing equipped with drilling core machines and fresh concrete testing devices

Mechanical testing

• Compression testing machines, range 5 kN to 5000 kN
• Tensile testing machines, maximum range 50 kN
• Bending tensile testing machines, maximum range 160 kN (3- and 4-point)
• Dynamic and static modulus of elasticity
• Creep testing machines, maximum range 90 kN, 250 kN, 600 kN
• Sensors for measurement of formwork pressure
• Shrinkage frame 120x120mm and 150x150mm for the measurement of shrinkage stress

Porosity / Permeability / Durability

• Several climatic cabinets
• Freeze cabinets (min temperature -25°C) with 20°C water flooding
• Permeability measurement (oxygen, water)
• Pressure vessels 60 l for water pressure up to 30 bar
• Chloride diffusion and conductivity
• Oxage permeability / Oxage diffusion

Climatic chambers

• Testing and storage chamber with 20°C/35% r. H. (> 20 m2)
• Testing and storage chambers with 20°C/70% r. H. (> 20 m2)
• Testing and storage chambers with 20°C/90% r. H. (> 20 m2)
• Storage chamber, 20-60°C, up to 70% r. H. (> 10 m2)
• Storage chamber down to -20°C (> 15 m2)

Analytical Methods

• Isothermal heat flow calorimeter, semiadiabatic calorimeter
• Ion chromatography
• Rotational rheometer with air bearing for cement pastes and mortars
• Measurement equipment for zeta potential determination of particle suspensions
• Atomic force microscopy
• Thermal analysis (TGA, DTA, DSC)
• Environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) including different preparation techniques
• Optical microscopy (transmitted light, reflected light) including different preparation techniques
• pH-meter
• Preparation of pore solutions from fresh and hardened cement pastes
• Determination of organic carbon (TOC) in aqueous solutions
• Chemical shrinkage
• Autogenous shrinkage
• Plastic shrinkage

In cooperation with other sections at Empa we have access to various other techniques like

• X-ray powder diffraction
• X-ray fluorescence analysis
• Wet chemistry (ICP-OES, ICP-MS, TOC, etc.)
• Mercury intrusion porosimetry
• Laser particle sizer
• Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR)
• Vibrational spectroscopy, CIR, Raman