Founded in 1863, Politecnico di Milano (PoliMi) is a state scientific-technological university, which was ranked 14th in the world in the last QS World University Ranking. PoliMi has been very active in European research projects, with 281 projects (9 ERCs) approved within FP7 (@ 90 M€) and 151 projects (17 ERCs) within H2020 (@ 70 M€).
The supervisor belongs to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The research activities of the PoliMi group are supported by the facilities of Laboratory for testing Materials, Buildings and Structures, which covers an area of 6500 m2 and is equipped with state of the art equipment for testing of structures and structural elements [with maximum forces ranging from as low as 0.01 N (for testing soft materials and/or cement based materials in the fresh state/green strength) and up to 5000 kN (strong floor – vertical load) and with a reaction frame able to counteract up to 500 kN horizontal load, under contemporary applied vertical load up to 2500 kN]. Testing, equipment is available to test the material/element performance under: freeze and thaw cycles, cryogenic temperatures, thermal shock; salt spray tests (for the evaluation of corrosion of metallic materials); artificial rain on wall samples; salt crystallization, UV rays aging. Microstructural characterization of material can rely upon equipment for MIP, X-ray diffraction, TGA, SEM observations and X-ray CT-scan.