Our industrial advisory council has begun developing both generic and specific products for cold weather construction, as well as a protocol to evaluate the research and development of others in the industry.
We conduct research based on RFP’s as well as receiving proposals from outside vendors. We evaluate proposed methodologies and brands through demonstrating their performance at our facility.
Most projects are intended to promote the practical application of new materials to cold climate construction and must be designed to accomplish the following:
General Applicability Investigation
- Identify existing commercial manufacturers and select and obtain materials to be investigated.
- Where possible, establish a non-disclosure agreement with the manufacturer for the purpose of tailoring their product to best meet Alaskan needs.
- Quantitatively determine the materials’ basic properties, supplementing existing test results only where necessary.
- Identify specific potential applications to be investigated based upon how the materials’ properties may resolve known construction problems, including adverse environmental impacts of traditional materials such as Portland cement.
- Prioritize and select potential applications and develop a specific plan for investigating each.
- Determine if someone already owns rights to the intellectual property. If so, attempt to work with them. If not, evaluate the possibility of applying for a patent.
- Determine the actual costs of using the material for each application in Fairbanks and a “typical” rural Alaskan village.
- Identify the factors leading to those costs and determine which have any practical potential for mitigation, such as the substitution of local components or process alteration.
- Indentify aspects of the materials or manufacturing process which, if altered in a way that appears feasible, would improve their applicability. Attempt to establish a financial relationship with the manufacturer to help improve their product.
Material Performance Determination (as appropriate for each selected material/application)
- Strength, ductility and failure modes
- Impact resistance
- Permeability (air, vapor and water)
- Stability (dimensional and structural)
- In water and salt water
- In a desiccating environment
- In a range of pH conditions
- In a range of environmental temperature conditions (-60° F to 120° F)
- In repeated freeze-thaw cycles
- In open flame, at high temperature and followed by water quenching
- In sustained ultra-violet light
- Thermal transfer and retention
- Compatibility with other appropriate building materials under various conditions
- Other properties as appropriate (e.g. adhesion)