Advances in Sustainable Civil Engineering Materials

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, investigations focusing on nonconventional materials have been gaining attention in research, development and innovation. Aiming to bring together contributions from the more active international groups in this field, we are organizing this Special Issue on "Advances in Sustainable Civil Engineering Materials”. The main envisaged topics for the Special Issue are as follows: engineered vegetable and other natural fibers as reinforcing elements; alternative inorganic binders based on agricultural and industrial wastes; new secondary materials from waste in the manufacture of eco-concretes; processing and characterization of nonconventional cementitious composites; durable and robust housing solutions; and low-embodied-energy constructive components and systems.

The main envisaged audience includes academic and industrial fellows interested in research, development and innovation in inorganic/organic bonded composites, efficient processing and eco-design of constructive solutions, contributing to the implementation of circular economy concepts in the construction sector. This Special Issue can be used in graduate and undergraduate courses in subjects such as civil engineering, environmental engineering, material science, biosystems engineering and architecture.

Many innovative solutions (such as bamboo-based components, additive manufacturing and the development of constructive systems for the optimization of construction/deconstruction operations) are increasingly being used both in developing and industrialized regions of the planet. There are key aspects to be understood for the correct preparation of residual or recycled materials before they are put into real-scale utilization. Binders and concretes are considered an important source of research for this kind of application as they can be designed for partial or even total substitution of conventional ones such as ordinary Portland cement or natural aggregates. Other important topics involve processing, characterization, durability studies and proper utilization of those new categories of materials. The papers will bring a complete overview of the main concepts and information needed for the development of innovative construction and the design of building components based on alternative materials and techniques.

Prof. Dr. Zhuguo Li
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.