Papers by Keyword: Physical Properties

Abstract: The building sector plays a significant role in reducing global energy use and carbon emissions. In the European Union (EU), the building stock represents 40% of total energy use and in which cooling and heating systems represent over 50%. Portugal is one of the EU countries where the consequences of energy poverty are most evident due to the families' financial inability to adequately climate their homes. The reasons are several, but they are mainly linked to buildings' poor passive thermal performance, resulting from inadequate adaptation to the climatic context and reduced thermal insulation. Thus, it is necessary to develop solutions to increase buildings’ thermal performance and reduce their potential environmental impact, which arises mainly from the significant use of active systems. In this sense, natural building materials are a promising solution, reducing energy use and carbon emissions related to buildings. This research studies the potential use of reed found in Portugal (Arundo donax) as a thermal insulation material. Its physical characterisation and the influence of geometry configuration on its thermal performance are evaluated. Its durability was studied too. Reed stalks were used to carry out the physical and durability tests. A reed board (150 x 150 mm) was built, and its thermal performance was tested in a hotbox. According to the results, the characteristics of reeds found in Portugal make it suitable to be used as a building material. Furthermore, regardless of the configuration studied, the reeds have a satisfactory thermal performance to be used as thermal insulation, under the requirements defined by Portuguese thermal regulation, Re ≥ 0.30 (m².oC)/W. There is a trend to the mould growth in the reed, but only under favourable conditions. Additionally, considering the abundance of reed throughout the Portuguese territory, this is an eco-friendly and low-cost option that gathers all requirements to be more used in the construction market.

Abstract: This research aims to study mycelium-based composites (MBC) by assessing their performance as foam-like wall insulation material. Various substrates have been selected to get optimized performance of the composite. Results showed that a prolonged growing period arose a denser mycelium outer layer in MBC, which rendered better water resistance due to the hydrophobicity of mycelium. Thermal conductivity and mechanical properties are highly dependent on substrate choices than other parameters of MBC, which coincided with the literature. Additionally, influences of accelerated aging test and moisture buffer capacity of MBC were first studied in this research. The results indicated that MBC not only maintained good functional performance after the accelerated aging test (i.e. drying and wetting cycles) but also constituted good moisture buffer capacity. This means that MBC has key material essences to apply as internal wall insulation material and become one of the layers in vapor-permeable building envelope systems to passively regulate indoor relative humidity and thermal comfort.

Abstract: Nowadays, smart technology plays an important role in engineering applications to improve the quality of life. Thus, the development of natural materials and the use of nanotechnology, will give wood new properties to maximize its benefit. It is clear that there is a great challenge to prove the strength and durability of wood acquiring new features to reach innovative use that can influence the current path in many engineering applications. Therefore, this paper summarizes a review of the possibility of using nano- and smart-technologies to make the most of the natural and acquired potential for adding new features and physical properties of wood to improve its efficiency in architectural and mechanical applications. Moreover, experiments have shown that the use of certain types of wood in many applications such as the manufacture of 3D vehicle simulation models to study dynamic behaviors as well as in the manufacture of mechanical measurement systems to improve accuracy. In conclusion, new directions under development in this field are proposed to provide solutions to important issues in the future of measurement and quality control systems that need scientific treatment.--

Abstract: Concrete containing recycled aggregates have different properties from concrete containing natural aggregates. This work investigates, firstly, the possibility of using recycled refractory bricks (RBA) as coarse aggregate for concrete, and secondly, finds the ideal replacement percentage of natural coarse aggregate (NCA) by RBA. For this, an experimental study was carried out to assess the physical and mechanical properties of concrete produced with the partial and total replacement of NCA by RBA. Two types of RBA from two different sources were used, RBA-1 obtained from the grinding of new refractory bricks and RBA-2 obtained from refractory bricks used in the furnace recovered from the cement plant. For each type of RBA, two concretes with water/cement (w/c) ratios of 0.59 and 0.38 were tested. These concretes were evaluated by density, water porosity, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) and compressive strength, and compared to those obtained on conventional concretes. The results obtained show that concrete can be manufactured using RBA. Concrete containing 20% ​​RBA shows good quality compared with conventional concrete.

Abstract: In order to improve the sustainable construction in Peru, throughout the recycling of non-biodegradable materials, a study of the influence of glass and Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) wastes in the physic properties of concrete bricks was carried out. They were made with a 1:5:2 cement, fine aggregate, and waste relation. Three proportions were studied named P-01, P-02, and P-03. Each proportion had a different content of glass and PET wastes, as a result, it was found that the average brick’s absorption was increased with PET wastes and it was reduced with glass wastes. On the other hand, the compressive strength value increased with glass wastes and it was reduced with PET wastes. Finally, it was found that P-02 was the most efficient concrete brick proportion to develop a sustainable construction, obeying the requirements of the Peruvian national building regulations.

Abstract: The paper presents the influence research results of the structure of the original polymer composition on the resulting films physical and mechanical properties. Films are intended for gluing of protective clothing thread connections. It is shown that the change of the composition viscosity in the studied interval does not have a significant effect on the finished material performance properties.

Abstract: The article is devoted to research in the development of composite materials based on polyvinyl chloride and industrial waste from the metallurgical, energy and mining industries. The properties of dispersed waste have been studied, which make it possible to speak of the possibility of their use as fillers for polymer compositions. A comparative analysis of the tested physical and mechanical properties is carried out, depending on the characteristics of the particle size of the fillers. It was revealed that from the point of view of construction materials, all the wastes under study can be used as fillers. The development will make it possible to dispose of industrial waste to obtain useful products and save natural non-metallic materials used in the creation of composites.

Abstract: In this study, the effect of replacing the river sand with industrial waste and cellulosic waste was investigated. The cellulosic waste use in this study only focuses on kenaf core, while the industrial waste use in this study is quarry dust. The fine aggregate formulation is adjusted with a different percentage of kenaf core. While the quarry dust is fixed at 50% replacement level. The water-cement ratio set for the formulation is 0.75, and the cement-sand ratio fixes at 1:8. The physical properties are measured through compressive strength and density at 28 days. The result shows that 10% is the maximum replacement of sand with kenaf core to produced brick that using 50% of quarry dust. The compressive strength value of the 10% of kenaf core at 28 days is 8.16 N/mm2 while for density is 1830 kg/m3 at 28 days. All the result shows that kenaf core has the potential to be used as a lightweight fine aggregate. But kenaf core needs to combine with other materials that contribute to the strength.

Abstract: Heavyweight concrete is mostly used for its shielding properties in the nuclear power plants. These properties can already be influenced by the selection of the input materials. In the present study, concrete samples comprised of four-component binders based on CEM I 42.5 R, blast furnace slag, metakaolin and limestone and a mixture of barite and magnetite aggregate, were investigated. Based on Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence, Neutron Activation, and Prompt-Gamma Activation analyses, three concrete designs were prepared and tested. Mechanical, physical (namely cubic compressive strength, bulk density, longitudinal deformation, and dynamic modulus of elasticity) and thermal properties (thermal conductivity coefficient, specific heat capacity, and thermal diffusivity), which should be influenced by the long-term exposure to irradiation were investigated. Presented results confirmed that the prepared samples are heavyweight concrete with bulk density higher than 3400 kg.m-3 with a low level of longitudinal deformation (between 0.265 ‰ and 0.352 ‰). All the prepared samples belong to the C 35/45 concrete strength class.

Abstract: SBS modified bitumen membrane used in underground engineering and coastal buildings would be corroded by chemical media, which greatly influenced the service life of waterproofing membranes. In this paper, SBS modified bitumen (MB), SBS modified bitumen with stone powder (MBS) and SBS modified bitumen with talc powder (MBT) were corroded by acidic, alkaline, and saline solutions for different time to evaluated the effect of chemical corrosion on the properties of SBS modified bitumen waterproofing membrane. The mass change ratio, low temperature flexibility, softening point and viscosity of SBS modified bitumen were investigated, and Fourier infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) was used to analyze the chemical structural changes of SBS modified bitumen after corrosion. The results showed that the mass of SBS modified bitumen decreased, the low temperature performance decreased, and the softening point increased after corrosion by chemical solutions. The influence of acidic and saline solution was more serious on SBS modified bitumen with fillers, and the properties of MBS has greatest degradation in acidic solution compared with MB and MBT. In alkaline solution, the properties degradation of MBT and MBS was less than that of MB, which indicated that filler could inhibit the alkaline corrosion of SBS modified bitumen. FTIR showed that C=C decreased more in acidic solution, while C=O and S=O of SBS modified bitumen increased significantly after alkaline solution corrosion, which indicated that acidic solution corrosion easily caused SBS degradation, while alkaline solution corrosion was easy to oxidize SBS and bitumen.