Enhancing the Thermal Insulation Behavior of Cement Mortar Using Waste Additives

Abstract

Building materials having low thermal load and low thermal conductivity will provide thermal comforts to the occupants in building, also low thermal conductivity means energy saving. In an effort to enhance the insulation properties of the cement mortar and to reduce the environmental burdens of the industrial, agriculture and municipal solid wastes, these wastes can be recycled by adding them to mortar to produce light weight concrete. The aim of this study is to investigate the thermal insulation of mortar that has been mixed with several types of additives like saw dust and shredded automobile tires and its effectiveness as thermal insulation. The effect of changing the amount of waste added to the cement matrix was studied. Results showed that, at high amounts of waste addition, wood waste–cement composites showed lower density, higher porosity, higher water absorption and better thermal insulation performance than that observed with shredded tires-cement matrix.