Incorporation of bitumen and calcium silicate in cement and lime stabilized soil blocks

Abstract

Providing affordable housing is the most critical problem in many of the developing countries. Using earth materials in building construction is one of the feasible methods to address this issue and it can be a way towards sustainable construction as well. However, the published information on the stabilized soil blocks is limited. Therefore, the present study is conducted to examine the characterization of the soils and engineering properties of the stabilized soil blocks. Four types of stabilizer were used in the study, namely; cement, slaked lime, bitumen emulsion and calcium silicate. Cement and slaked lime were added at different percentages in the range of 5% to 15%, with interval of 2.5%. The percentage was determined based on weight of soil. Meanwhile, bitumen emulsion and calcium silicate were incorporated at various percentages together with 10% of cement. Dosage of bitumen emulsion is in the range of 2% to 10% at interval of 2% while calcium silicate was incorporated at 0.50%, 0.75%, 1.00%, 1.2...