Development of a New Thermally Insulating and Structural Green Concrete for Lean Constructions

Abstract

A new class of thermally insulating, structural concrete was designed and developed in-house. This was carried out by the fusion of current concrete/ mortar technology with aerogel granulates in an effort to produce a lean wall with both strength and thermally insulating properties. The target of this work is to achieve a material which has a compressive strength of 20 MPa, with a corresponding thermal conductivity as low as 0.1–0.2 W/(mK). Due to the Knudsen effect, aerogel decreased the thermal conductivity of the composites, but at the drastic expense of structural properties arising from its inherent brittleness and the development of gap spaces between the hydrophobichydrophilic interface of aerogel and concrete. Optimization of the mix designs, curing conditions, type of binders and additive employments improved the codependency. The research so far showed that such a goal is attainable even when increase sustainability efforts are met through incorporation of green construction materials.