Overview of the influence of waste materials on the thermal conductivity of cementitious composites

• Main Author: Adeyemi Adesina
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-06-01
• Series: Cleaner Engineering and Technology
• Subjects: Cementitious composites; Thermal properties; Recycled materials; Net-zero energy buildings
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666790821000069

The high energy consumption by buildings has called for a need to use energy-efficient material for future construction applications. Cementitious composites in various forms are the most used building material for the construction of buildings. Therefore, in order to ensure these buildings made with cementitious composites are energy-efficient, it is imperative to find innovative and sustainable ways to improve the thermal properties of these cementitious composites. One of the sustainable and effective ways to improve the thermal properties of cementitious composites is with the incorporation of various waste. Therefore, this paper aims to discuss different types of wastes that can be recycled into cementitious composites to improve the thermal properties (i.e. reduce thermal conductivity) based on existing experimental studies. Discussion from this paper showed that recycled materials such as rubber and plastics can be used to reduce the thermal conductivity of cementitious composites when used as a replacement of up to 50% of natural aggregates. It was also concluded that there is a good relationship between density and thermal conductivity of cementitious composites and waste/recycled materials can be incorporated as aggregate/filler in cementitious composites to improve the thermal performance. However, there is a need for the limitations associated with the use of these waste/recycled materials to be resolved before they are incorporated into cementitious composites.