Building Construction Products Research Articles

Feasibility and Durability of Interlocks (Paving stones) from Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) Wastes

Managing plastics waste is a global challenge that challenges the health of our ecosystem due to their high rate of production and non-biodegradability. However, it is important to handle PWs properly to curtail the environmental emissions associated with their incineration and dumping into landfills. The world's building industry is influenced by looking at the expense of construction materials and the required raw materials to manufacture them with the supporting climate that is rising at an unprecedented pace. The recycling of plastic waste into new useful building construction products will be a great advantage In this analysis, the shredded PET waste gathered from the recycling center was heated to 230 0C and used as a binder for the complete substitution of cement with a river sand aggregate for the manufacture of polymer interlocking / paving stones. The physical characteristics and mechanical performance of the aggregate materials and PET polymer concrete (including their distribution of particle size, silt , clay and dust content, relative stiffness, water absorption, porosity, flexural and compressive strength) were tested on various PET waste: 100%, 90%, 70%, 50% and 30% sand mixing percentages. The results showed that the produced interlocks from 30% PET and 70% river sand (3:7) achieved higher density, flexural, and compressive strength than the other combination percentages. The least strength and porosity were exhibited by the polymer concrete produced with 100 % PET. The compressive strength of the PET polymer concrete produced with 30 % PET waste composition was higher than that of cement concrete at 28 days curing. Based on the test results, PET polymer concrete at 30 % PET replacement can be used for interlocking tiles / paving stones due to its strength, low water absorption, and eco-friendliness, especially in water-logged areas. This prospect of interlocking tile production using polyethylene terephthalate (PET) waste and sand would not only minimise the cost of building production, but will only act as a waste diversion to mitigate environmental emissions caused by plastic waste disposal.

Evaluation of environmental impact on the formaldehyde emission and flame-retardant performance of thermal insulation materials

Thermal insulation material, an essential building material, is used to preserve heat or block heat gains in buildings. Insulation material is currently attracting significant attention, and thermal conductivity, i.e., thermal insulation performance, is expressed at a very low value. Therefore, since the era of industrialization, several chemicals have been used to secure thermal insulation performance in each sector; therefore, the resulting hazards have increased. To date, researches have been mainly conducted to secure the low thermal conductivity of insulating material; however, the hazards remain unaddressed. Therefore, this study quantitatively evaluates 18 building construction products and the emission of pollutants and harmful gas during combustion events. Pollutant emission was conducted using the 20-L small chamber method according to the ISO 16000, and formaldehyde, total volatile organic compounds, and five volatile organic compounds were analyzed. Gas hazard evaluation during combustion was evaluated by KS F 2271: Fire Retardant Testing Method of Interior Finishes and Structures as the average behavioral stop time of rats under thermal insulation combustion conditions.

PAPER-SHADE: DEVELOPMENT OF SUSTAINABLE MODULAR BUILDING SHADING SYSTEMS UTILIZING RECYCLED PAPER TOWARDS SERIAL PRODUCTION

The paper will present an ongoing research for the design and manufacturability of modular building shading systems utilizing recycled paper as the primary material ingredient. The Paper-Shade project proposes a radically new solution: surplus recycled paper into a building construction product. The research aims to develop prototypes of serially manufactured modules that are sustainable in their materiality, manufacturing process, performances, life span cycle, as well as eventual re-cycling. The methodology utilized throughout the research is primarily a hands-on one. The research consortium consists of academic, industry and professional practice partners. The prototypes therefore develop through cyclical processes involving case-study assessments (theoretical and physical), cataloguing of data and outlining directives, defining desired-for specifications, testing through simulation, physical testing and laboratory results. Serial production possibilities as well as product affordability and maximized building energy performance are also considered. The Paper-Shade project may be considered as a modern-day version of vernacular building systems such as adobe bricks. It is also a new take on the modernist era’s concrete shading modules that were extensively and successfully used in the past in hot climatic zones but unfortunately forgotten during the recent decades. The project aims to revive intelligent shading systems by prototyping sustainably produced and performing shading modules towards an improved built environment.

Evaluation and application of sintered red mud and its incorporated clay ceramics as materials for building construction

In the aluminum industry, the initial operation comprises the production of its oxide, Al2O3 (alumina) from ores, mainly the bauxite. The Bayer process is, in practice, the only used to produce alumina generating a huge amount of hazardous waste known as red mud. Among the proposed alternatives to consider red mud a useful by-product, the incorporation into clay ceramics allows large quantities to be reutilized as construction products. Several research works investigated this alternative but were limited to single clay incorporation without specific application in building construction products. In the present work the possibility of producing bricks and roofing tiles for building construction with plain red mud and incorporations separately, in two different clays, with low and high plasticity, was for the first time investigated. Both red mud and clays were characterized. Corresponding ceramics fired at 850, 950 and 1050°C were evaluated for their technological properties. The results indicated that plain red mud fired at any of these temperatures might be used as bricks according to the Brazilian standards. It could also be used for roofing tiles production when fired at 1050°C. Application in bricks for building construction and a preliminary environmental assessment were for the first time presented.

Synthesis and characterization of short sisal fibre polyester composites

Natural fibres have the potential to replace synthetic fibres for making polymer composites because of their good engineering properties. Sisal fibres obtained from the leaves of the sisal plant exhibit high strength among various other natural fibres, but have not been yet fully explored. Nevertheless, the impact of sisal fibre in polymer composites depends on sisal fibre extraction process, characteristic of fibre, fibre binder ratios, synthesizing technique, etc. In the present study, a detailed experimental protocol was conducted for sisal cultivation, fibre extraction, processing and development of composite boards/panels and assessed the impact of incorporation of chopped strand sisal fibre mat on the mechanical behaviour of polyester composites. The results revealed that the diameter of sisal fibre harvested after 5 years of its cultivation varied from 275 to \(475\, {\upmu }\hbox {m}\) with a tensile strength of 121–337 MPa; tensile modulus of 2.59–10.47 GPa; elongation at break varied from 3.37 to 10.86%. It is imperative to note that the mechanical properties of sisal composites significantly improved with the incorporation of chopped strand sisal fibre mat (preform). The tensile, flexural and impact strengths of composites developed using chopped short sisal fibre mat (preform) were \(45.87\pm 3.2\), \(102.29\pm 9,33{,}954\pm 5288\, \hbox {J m}^{-2}\), respectively. The findings of the study revealed the effectiveness of sisal fibre as reinforcing materials in polyester composites for use in building construction products and automotive applications.

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF INTERLOCKING AND SANDCRETE BLOCKS FOR BUILDING WALLING SYSTEMS

The high cost of building materials, especially sandcrete blocks in Ghana, has made building construction products expensive and created a housing deficit of about 1.6 million. Meanwhile, the interlocking blocks, which are made up of laterite and cement abound could be exploited to help reduce the cost of housing construction. Especially, wall construction which is one of the major components of the entire building process. This paper sought to explore the possibility of adopting the interlocking block wall system as a means of making wall construction of buildings affordable in Ghana. A comparative study using interlocking blocks system and sandcrete blocks was made. An observation of the processes were made to identify the extent to which each system falls in line. A sample size of 45 respondents comprising 20 workers of P-A Capital Estate Housing, 5 personnel from consultancy firms and 20 private individuals were selected for further confirmatory study with the use of convenience and purposive sampling technique. To determine whether there were any statistically significant differences between the mean values, paired-sample t-test at the 0.05 level of significance was done. Results showed that, the use of interlocking blocks do not only lead to elimination of a number of non-value adding activities associated with the use of the sandcrete blocks, but also make the wall construction process cheaper and faster. It was also discovered that the absence of mortar jointing in the interlocking system reduced the quantity of materials, like cement and sand, required in the sandcrete wall construction process. Furthermore, there was no statistically difference between the compressive strength of interlocking blocks and conventional sandcrete blocks. However, there were statistically significant differences between construction cost and speed of construction using the two systems of construction.

Standardization of the Environmental Information for Asphalt Technologies

Increasing attention being paid to the environmental impact of construction activities has led to the adoption of Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for the purpose of producing standardized assessments. Facilitating the comparison of the environmental performance of construction products, EPDs represent an excellent tool for the decision making process.The development of EPDs for building construction products is based on Product Category Rules (PCRs), which define a wide set of environmental indicators relevant for the whole sector. Because of the large range of products covered by the PCRs, the resulting EPDs appear to be mainly addressed to generic products without considering individual material's specific characteristics. The highway industry in particular necessitates the use of specifically customized sets of rules to encourage and improve the environmental performance of the products.It is a prerogative of the national road administrations (NRAs) to favor the introduction of green solutions. This can be facilitated by adopting appropriate rules for sustainability assessment. While on one side, some of the recommended PCRs for construction products, such as ozone depletion potential and formation potential of tropospheric ozone, have little relevance for asphalt technologies, on the other side they do not fully embrace the specific necessities of the NRAs. An appropriate tool to inform the decision making process of the NRAs should not be limited to environmental criteria but should include an indication of the social and economic impact of the asphalt, all considered from a life cycle perspective. Until now, PCRs with potential relevance to asphalt technologies have been autonomously introduced in few countries, but do not fully satisfy the scope being limited to the production stage.With the purpose of developing a methodology for the assessment of the overall sustainability of bituminous mixtures produced with novel materials and technologies the Evaluation and Decision Process for Greener Asphalt Roads (EDGAR) project started by creating a reduced set of rules specifically designed for asphalt materials and directly relevant to NRAs. Both environmental and socio-economic indicators are considered from a life cycle perspective to describe the impact of innovative asphalt materials on sustainability. A methodology will be proposed for NRAs to determine these indicators, using either existing or new tools, and to implement them in the decision making process. In the final stage of the two year project, which will end in April 2016, the EDGAR methodology will be demonstrated through application in practical test cases.

Restructuring the Backhoe Loader Product Line at Caterpillar: A New Lane Strategy

Caterpillar recently embarked on an ambitious program to radically change how it markets and sells key products of its Building Construction Products division (BCP). The goal was to move from a strict build-to-order strategy, in which customers selected one of millions of possible configurations, to a Lane Strategy in which the majority of their customers would choose machines from just over 100 configurations. To successfully make such a radical change Caterpillar needed to quantify how customers would potentially react to the new strategy, and how such a drastic simplification of their product line would affect their manufacturing, sales, and service costs. We embarked on a study with Caterpillar to explicitly model customers' reactions to reduced product lines, to estimate the (positive and negative) effect such variety has on Caterpillar's costs - the cost of complexity - and ultimately help them design and implement this strategy for their flagship BCP product, the Backhoe Loader. Based on our analysis, Caterpillar began implementing the new strategy with their 2010 price list, moving completely to the new strategy in 2011. Since that time Caterpillar has expanded their Lane strategy throughout all of their product lines, fundamentally remaking their business.

Caterpillar’s Building Construction Products Division Improves and Stabilizes Product Availability

In 2001, Caterpillar’s Building Construction Products Division (BCPD) began a project to reduce and stabilize order-to-delivery times (termed product availability within Caterpillar) while reducing cost and inventory. Using a six-sigma method and a multiechelon inventory optimization model, BCPD sets dynamic inventory policies for assembled machines stocked at the assembly plant and for subassemblies and components stocked at the assembly plant and at supplier locations. The project has improved product availability, reducing the mean time for orders with identified customers by 20 percent and reducing the standard deviation of product availability for all orders by 50 percent. BCPD’s initial implementation and resulting improved product availability enabled BCPD to win more orders (a two percent increase in revenues) and reduce total chain inventory by 16 percent, and it has motivated other Caterpillar manufacturing and assembly facilities to replicate this project across their supply chains.