www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org APPLICATIONS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY JAGMEET SINGH, JASPAL SINGH & MANPREET KAUR Department of Civil Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, Punjab, India ABSTRACT Nanotechnology in science, engineering and technology represents the study of phenomena and the manipulation of materials at nanoscale, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers. At nanoscale, the properties of materials are dramatically improved from the properties of individual atoms due to increase in relative surface area and quantum effects. The construction industry is a new field for nanotechnology and is growing rapidly for the last few years. Nanotechnology based products can improve the current construction materials. Nanotechnology in construction is mainly focused on concrete having better properties using different nanomaterials, steel having better physical properties using copper nanoparticles and nano-sensors for construction. Although these materials are having unique properties but some of their limitations are adverse effect on environment and health. Therefore it is utmost necessary to examine and estimates the risk from its production, use and disposal. In this context the, life cycle analysis (LCA) should be carried out to enhance the sustainability of the nanotechnology for construction industries. KEYWORDS: Concrete, Glass, Nanomaterials, Nanosensors, Steel Received: Nov 10, 2015; Accepted: Nov 23, 2015; Published: Nov 24, 2015; Paper Id.: IJCSEIERDDEC20154 INTRODUCTION Nanotechnology is a combination of science, engineering and technology. Nanotechnology is the study of phenomena and the manipulation of materials at nanoscale. Nanotechnology is deals with the study and application of extremely small things and can be used across all the other science fields, material science, and engineering. The nanotechnology is not a new technology; it is the re-engineering of materials by controlling their shape and size at the nanoscale (Mann 2006). The key in nanotechnology is the size of particles because at the nanoscale, the physical, chemical, and biological properties of materials are unique and dramatically improved from the properties of individual atoms and molecules or bulk matter (Balaguru and Chong 2006). These properties are improved due to increase in relative surface area and new quantum effects. Nanomaterials are core of nanoscience and nanotechnology. Nanomaterials are materials having at least one dimension between 1—100 nanometers but these can be nanoscale in one dimensions, two dimensions or/and three dimensions. There are some nanoparticles which occur naturally, but most practically used are synthetic nanomaterials. Synthetic nanomaterials having common types are nanotubes, quantum dots, nanowires and nanorods (Alagarasi 2011). There are different synthetic methods for nanomaterials. These methods can be split into two approachs "bottom up" and "top down”. Broken down of bulk metal into powder and then into nanoparticles known as “top down” and having common example is mechanical grinding. This approach requires larger amount of materials and can lead to waste if excess material is discarded. In "bottom up" approach, atoms are combined into nanostructured arrays, which can be time-consuming but this approach has higher purity, better particle size/surface chemistry control as compared to “top down” approach. The common example of this Original Article International Journal of Civil, Structural, Environmental and Infrastructure Engineering Research and Development (IJCSEIERD) ISSN(P): 2249-6866; ISSN(E): 2249-7978 Vol. 5, Issue 6, Dec 2015, 31-34 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.