Research on Foam Gypsum with Hemp Fibrous Reinforcement

Abstract

Energy saving for housing and building materials’ production is an important issue in Latvia and other countries. Huge primer energy consumption and CO2 emission is characteristic for production of various modern isolation materials. Natural resources have been widely used for building materials’ production in many countries the entire world. The use of local materials, for example, gypsum in building materials’ production and insulating of building constructions, would be a significant input in Latvia’s national economy. Gypsies rock gypsum is a local resource and its usage in Latvia’s national economy is economically beneficial. Foam gypsum is one of the possible gypsum types, for which it is possible in wide range to vary the density and also such important parameters of building materials as mechanical strength, sound absorption, heat conductivity etc. (Skujans et al., 2010). Previous research (Skujans et al., 2007) on foam gypsum showed that foam gypsum can be similar to other well known thermal and sound insulation materials as mineral cotton, polystyrene, perlite, clay, etc. Gypsum obtains a high fire-resistance – the fire reaction class A in accordance with the European regulations (Ministry of Economics, 2008). Fragility of the material could be mentioned as a certain disadvantage, that’s why reinforcement of the material is necessary. Natural fibrous plants growing in the region could be used as reinforcement. For example, palm plants in southern regions (Bacellar and D’Almeida, 2009) and hemp in Latvia (Allin, 2005). Fibrous plants are relatively widely used in building, production of industrial products, in vehicle production sphere, agriculture and others. A special attention is paid to the use of fibrous hemp in various sectors of national economy. The research on this topic is developed in Germany, France, Great Britain (Ulme and Freivalde, 2009). At present the usage of various fibrous plants in foam gypsum production, as well as production costs and ecological efficiency has not been evaluated. The purpose of the research is to develop the production technology for a new energy resources saving composite building material – foam gypsum with fibrous hemp reinforcement, as well as research on mechanical and sound absorption qualities.