Material properties

• Head of the research group: Assoc. Prof. Ing. Miroslav Čekon, PhD., miroslav.cekon@stuba.sk
• Contact person: Assoc. Prof. Ing. Daniel Urbán, PhD., daniel.urban@stuba.sk
• Contact person: Ing. Zuzana Štefunková, PhD., zuzana.stefunkova@stuba.sk

 Research focus 

The main activity is focused on the investigation of material properties of building materials and composites. The research focus is more closely oriented to the structure of building materials, concretes, lightweight concretes, mortars, ceramics, composite materials, porous materials, soft materials, metamaterials, their thermal-technical and moisture characteristics, acoustic properties and mechanical properties. The activity is oriented to the area of experimental, but also theoretical analysis of heat transfer and accumulation, phase change materials, development and investigation of new materials and systems with high latent heat potential and sound distribution in building materials.

Within the University Science Park of STU Bratislava, we have the following equipment: scanning electron microscope Tescan Vega 3 with EDX detector, mercury porosimeter Pascal 140 and high-pressure porosimeter Pascal 440, simultaneous thermal analysis device Mettler Toledo TGA/DSC 2, laser particle size analyzer Analysette 22 and helium pycnometer. Furthermore, a hydraulic system for determining mechanical properties, such as compressive strength, bending tensile strength, elastic modulus, etc. The laboratories of applied physics have equipment for characterizing thermophysical parameters of materials using the pulse measurement method, Thermophysical Tester RTB and Isomet 2114 devices. A unique centrifuge device with a long arm has been developed to describe water transfer parameters and capillary properties in porous materials in conjunction with solving inverse modeling problems. In the field of researching the acoustic properties of materials, the laboratories have equipment for measuring the coefficient of sound absorption, or reflectivity and impedance of the surfaces of building materials, the soundproofing of fibrous and soft porous materials, measuring dynamic stiffness, determining the speed of sound wave distribution in materials, predicting wave distribution in porous materials and modeling acoustic metamaterials.

 Selected publications 

• ČEKON, Miroslav - SLÁVIK, Richard - ČURPEK, Jakub - COTTONE, Rossella - BEVILACQUA, Piero. An integrated adaptive façade system using a glass block filled with phase change material: Cooling energy load and performance enhancement. In Building and Environment. No. 273 (2025), online, [18] s., art. no. 112724. ISSN 0360-1323 (7.1 - 2023). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112724
• MÁNIK, Marek - MEDVEĎ, Igor - KEPPERT, Martin - SUCHORAB, Zbigniew - TRNÍK, Anton. Determination of Osmotic Flow in Water Transport in an Illitic Clay. In Materials [elektronický zdroj]. Vol. 18, iss. 2 (2025), online, [14] s., art. no. 338. ISSN 1996-1944 (3.1 - 2023). https://doi.org/10.3390/ma18020338
• ČERNÝ, Pavel - BABENKO, Maryna - BARTOŠ, Petr - KONONETS, Yevhen - KŘÍŽ, Pavel - RABENSEIFER, Roman - ŠPALEK, František. Complex study of the composite building material based on flax straw organic waste: hygrothermal and physicochemical properties. In Waste and Biomass Valorization. Vol. 15, iss. 4 (2024), s. 2231-2247. ISSN 1877-2641 (2.6 - 2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-023-02273-7
• BABENKO, Maryna - KONONETS, Yevhen - BARTOŠ, Petr - PONT, Ulrich - ŠPALEK, František - ZOUBEK, Tomáš - KŘÍŽ, Pavel. Perspectives of Insulating Biodegradable Composites Derived from Agricultural Lignocellulosic Biomass and Fungal Mycelium: A Comprehensive Study of Thermal Conductivity and Density Characteristics. In Biomimetics. Vol. 9, iss. 11 (2024), online, [20] s., art. no. 707. ISSN 2313-7673 (3.4 - 2023). https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics9110707
• MEDVEĎ, Igor - JURČI, Milan - TRNÍK, Anton. Determination of phase change temperature of materials from adiabatic scanning calorimetry data. In Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry. Vol. 148, iss. 4 (2023), s. 1693-1704. ISSN 1388-6150 (3.0 - 2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-022-11335-2