Materials Science Experts For 25 Years
Led by Dr. Steve Doggett, Built Environments’ materials science practice has provided expert solutions to clients for 25 years. Product manufacturers, engineering firms, architects, trade organizations, and many others have sought our team’s guidance in helping to understand, and improve, the way their projects and products perform under the most stringent real-world, and beyond, conditions faced in construction. Clients can rely on our team’s expert knowledge and state-of-the-art laboratory to provide solutions to the most difficult materials science challenges in the industry.
Our Material Science services include:
Water Resistive Barrier Testing & Analysis
Our team of experts can tests various types of fluid-applied and mechanical WRBs for performance in the lab, field, and via advanced simulations. Over our 25 years, we’ve specialized in understanding, testing, and improving the ways that building materials interact with all forms of water.
Corrosion Testing
Built Environments is able to test many types of products for resistance to water, freeze, and the impacts of corrosion. This is particularly important when dealing with cladding attachment and metal framing.
Quality Testing
Product manufacturers and their customers demand quality in building products. But, that demand is not what we actually see in our travels nationwide. Our team tests new and existing products for quality and performance. We do this by putting them through freeze/thaw cycles, burning them, and flexing them past their breaking point. In doing so, we learn how strong, or weak, materials are, and what can be done to make them better.
Root Cause Analysis in Materials and Assemblies
Sometimes you do need a microscope to determine what’s causing an issue on a jobsite. Our team combines the expert knowledge of both sides of this equation. In the field, we assess how rainscreen systems, exterior wall assemblies, claddings, and the components that keep them together perform, particularly as it relates to air and water leakage. Back in the lab, we study materials and components such as insulation under the microscope to determine the source of issues and defects, at the molecular level.