Improve Thermal Insulation And Physical Properties Of The Iraqi Plaster Using Natural Additives

Abstract

Fires are considered to be one of the most common disasters in the buildings at the present time; therefore it becomes necessary to design the buildings with fire-resistant materials. Many types of stucco panels’ fire-resistant material have been created to prevent heat transfer to other parts of the institution, and to protect it from damage, so intensify increased to study how to improve the properties of the Iraqi plaster. Iraqi plaster differs from other types of plasters with its high quality mechanical and physical characteristics and this is because of the purity of its raw materials (rock stucco) and the advanced technology used in the production. However, there are some negative aspects that led to the lack of demand for it and, make it unsuitable for use as a binding agent, such as the lack of resistance to stresses tensile, lack of resistance to moisture and freezing speed leading to a significant loss of plaster during working with it, and thus lead to increased construction costs. In order to improve the properties of the Iraqi plaster many types of natural additives have been used in this research which are; Hay, Rice husks, sawdust and Alcaulan, with a suitable ratios. The research also include studying the effect of this additives on physical and mechanical characteristic of Iraqi plaster, and studying the effect of the ratios of these additives on thermal insulation of the Iraqi plaster to choose the best additives type and to keep the high quality as possible of the material while maintaining the quality of the material and to make it remains within the standard specifications of plaster for construction purposes. Thermal insulation have been investigated after adding caulan, Hay, Rice husks and sawdust with addition ratios of;3, 5, 10, 15% by weight of plasters. Results showed that the thermal insulation highly related to the ratio of water to plaster and with the type of the additives material. Increasing the ratio of natural additives led to an increase in the thermal insulation and this appears clearly with sawdust, Hay and Rice husks. While adding only small ratios of caulan gives the highest thermal insulation bigger than other types of additives, this is because of its characteristic of losing the crystallization water, which constitutes approximately about 15% of its formulation when dealing thermally with it, but whenever caulan ratio increases the thermal insulation decreases due to the obstruction of the needle network formation.