Insulation Plaster Research Articles

Fire retardation, compressive strength and durability analysis of concrete reinforced with novel plasters: An experimental, computational and statistical research

Concrete is an essential component of the construction industry, valued for its high compressive strength (CS) and durability. However, when exposed to extreme conditions like fire without protective structural elements, its physical integrity deteriorates rapidly, leading to significant alterations in its mechanical properties. This research aims to provide a potential solution to this issue by assessing the fire resistance of various concrete samples, including unplastered (UNP), roughly plastered (RP), and those with contemporary insulation plaster (CIP) substitutions, at different thicknesses. These samples are subjected to varying temperatures and exposure times within an oven, followed by CS testing. These temperature levels and time intervals correspond to 300 °C, 450 °C, and 600 °C, with the time range is restricted to 60, 90, and 120-min, respectively. The results indicate that an increase in sample thickness correlates with a reduction in concrete degradation at high temperatures. Moreover, the findings reveal that after 120-min of exposure at 600 °C, UNP, RP, and CIP-reinforced samples achieve CSs of 27.435 MPa, 27.74 MPa, and 30.28 MPa, respectively. Notably, the 3 cm CIP-reinforced sample exhibits a CS exceeding 30 MPa under the most extreme conditions. The research incorporates regression and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses to complement the experimental investigation. The regression analysis suggests that CIP-reinforced samples can withstand temperatures up to 600 °C for approximately 173-min, while the study implies that they could endure temperatures as high as 861 °C during a 120-min exposure.

Experimental performance assessment of a novel insulation plaster as an energy-efficient retrofit solution for external walls: A key building material towards low/zero carbon buildings

Thermal insulation plasters have become the focus of attention in the building sector. Among the most important reasons for this is the high thermal energy losses of the buildings. Since conventional briquettes used in buildings allow high heat transfer, the construction industries are looking for alternative insulation ways with low cost and high thermal efficiency. The use of insulation plasters is becoming popular due to the high cost and installation of insulation materials such as Expanded Polystyrene (EPS), which is among the alternative ways. Therefore, in this study, the novel insulation plaster (NIP) developed in contrast to traditional insulation plasters is tested on conventional briquettes in different thicknesses. On considering the total heat transfer coefficient (U-value), it is understood that whilst the conventional briquette has the highest value with approximately 5.5 W/m2K, the briquette with 2-2 NIP thickness has the lowest value with a value of almost 2.86 W/m2K. As a result of the tests, the total heat transfer coefficient of the briquette with 1-1 NIP thickness is observed to have an improvement of nearly 22.5% compared to conventional briquettes, while a progress of approximately 36.4% is seen in briquettes with 2-1 NIP thickness. In addition, it is revealed that the best mitigation in the overall heat transfer coefficient is about 47.9% in briquettes with 2-2 NIP thickness. It is also figured out that NIP has additional thermal durability thanks to the dead air pores and boron minerals in its internal structure.

The Thermal Analysis of Plaster with Waste Expanded Polystyrene Gypsum and Resin

This study investigated the physical properties of plaster or decorative materials made of waste expanded polystyrene (EPS) and pine tree resin (as a binder). Thirty-two samples were produced by adding waste EPS in 0-3mm and 0-6mm grain diameters in two groups and at 20-80% addition rates and resin at 0, 0.5, 1, and 2% of the dry mix weight. Density, thermal conductivity coefficient, and compressive reduced by 50.64%, 82.68%, and 84.91% in samples with a diameter of 0-3 mm. Density, thermal conductivity coefficient, and compressive reduced by 51.03%, 86.55%, and 84.13% in samples with a diameter of 0-6 mm. Density and thermal conductivity decreased by 13.32-10.42% and 25.37-22.41%, respectively, while compressive strength increased by 29.50-19.56% in samples with a diameter of 0-3 mm and 2% resin. Density and thermal conductivity decreased by 19.60-13.68% and 17.24-10.25%, respectively, while compressive strength increased by 16.27-8.85% in samples with a diameter of 0-6 mm and 2% resin. The results show that the samples can be used as interior plaster, insulation plaster, and decoration material due to their grooving and paint adherence properties. This plaster and decoration material can help us i) reduce heating and cooling energy, ii) reuse waste EPS and prevent environmental pollution, and iii) reduce building load in tall buildings.

THE EFFECT OF PINE TREE RESIN ON THE THERMAL AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF PLASTER WITH EXPANDED CLAY

This study focused on a new type of insulation plaster consisting of pine tree resin, expanded clay (EC), and gypsum. Gypsum plaster mortars were prepared with ECs with grain diameters of 0-2 mm and 2-4 mm and gypsum binder at 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% by volume. The resin was added to each mortar at 0.5%, 1%, and 2% of the mix weight to create artificial pores. Samples with 32 different combinations were obtained. The samples were subjected to tests (such as thermal conductivity, compressive strength, ultrasonic sound velocity, and water absorption). The results showed that the higher the pine tree resin volume, the lower the density and thermal conductivity and the higher the compressive strength and porosity. The samples had high water absorption rates. The results indicate that these plasters can be used as interior plasters for insulation purposes and can be painted with any kind of paint.

Investigation of mechanical, thermal, and acoustic performance of insulation materials containing microwave and ultrasound pretreated coffee wastes and estimation of thermal parameters using artificial neural network

AbstractAs a result of increasing coffee consumption in the world, the amount of coffee waste, which is an important environmental problem, is increasing. Due to their complex organic properties, they should not be discharged to landfills. At the same time, these wastes with a porous and cellulosic structure, have high acoustic and heat insulation performances in the building material they are used. In this study, commercial coffee wastes were evaluated without pre‐treatment (CW) and with microwave (MCW) and ultrasound (UCW) pre‐treatment in insulation plaster containing boron. First, the morphological, thermal, and chemical properties of coffee wastes were determined by SEM, TGA, and FTIR analyzes. CW, MCW, and UCW wastes were replaced with insulation plaster at rates of 10%, 20%, and 30%. The physical, mechanical, thermal, and acoustic properties of insulation plasters produced from coffee waste were determined by the analysis methods given in Turkish Standards. According to the results, insulation plasters obtained from pre‐treated wastes were more efficient in terms of mechanical and thermal properties. In terms of thermal and acoustic insulation, UCW30 insulation plasters showed the best performance. Thermal conductivity values were estimated by entering dosage, density, water absorption, bond strength, compressive strength, and moisture values as input dataset to artificial neural network (ANN). The developed ANN model and the experimentally obtained data were compared and it was observed that the results were in harmony. As a result, with this study, a new generation green insulation material was produced by recycling coffee wastes. In this way, a different solution has been found for an important environmental problem.

Thermal insulation and mechanical properties of a specially improved insulation plaster under freezing–thawing and high-temperature conditions

Abstract In this study, the effects of heat preservation and the resistance to environmental conditions of ready-made insulating sludge used in the interior and exterior facades of the buildings were investigated. The insulation consists of lightweight aggregates, boron and steel fiber. Within the scope of the study, 1 L of water was mixed with 1 kg of insulating fluid as a proportion and a composite material was obtained. Thermal conductivity coefficient, resistance to high temperature, changes in ultrasound speed, resistance to frost and compressive strength tests were compared with respect to normal plaster consumption. At the same time, samples of 15 × 15 × 15 cm cube samples taken from fresh concrete were plated to be 1 and 2 cm on each surface, and the extent to which the mortar retained concrete under environmental conditions was investigated. One of the components of the insulating sludge, lightweight aggregate-derived perlite and pumice, was found to provide heat and sound insulation. The presence of boron in the components increased the binding and did not necessitate the use of cement during mortar. It has been observed that the presence of steel fibers minimizes the cracks in the mortar and increases the resistance of the mixture mortar. The unit weight of the insulation plaster mortar is about 0.5 g/cm3 owing to the remarkably lower density of light fine particles. Polymer fibers and boron additives yield a notably low thermal conductivity of 0.13 W/mK.

Insulating and fire-resistance performance of calcium aluminate cement based lightweight mortars

The study investigated the effect of two different cement types and expanded vermiculite powder (EVP) utilized as fine aggregate on the insulating and fire-resistance performance of lightweight mortars. To lower the density and heat conductivity of mortars, EVP was utilized as a 'full' replacement for river sand. Cements used were calcium aluminate cement (CAC) and Portland cement (PC). Four different EVP/cement (PC or CAC) ratios were determined: 3, 4, 5 and 6. The mortar specimens produced were exposed to temperatures of 20 °C, 300, 600, 900 and 1100 °C. The mechanical properties, dry unit weight, ultrasonic pulse velocity and thermal conductivity tests after 28 days of standard curing were performed to examine the impact of high temperatures on the mortar specimens. Microstructural deteriorations caused by high temperatures were investigated by scanning electron microscope. Mixture with an EVP/CAC ratio of 4 generally showed the best performance against high temperature in terms of compressive strength. Mortar with an EVP/CAC ratio of 6 showed the lowest thermal conductivity at both 20 °C and 1100 °C. According to the experimental findings, expanded vermiculite and CAC can be used to make fire-resistant cement-based lightweight composite coating materials and expanded vermiculite can also be employed as a lightweight aggregate in building insulation plaster applications

Performance evaluation of lightweight insulating plaster for enhancing the fire endurance of high strength structural concrete

Structural concrete is a widely used building material due to its versatile characteristics including higher compressive strength and longevity. However, when exposed to fire, concrete experiences faster degradation in its mechanical properties and is also susceptible to spalling. To overcome this problem, the possibility of lightweight plaster application on High Strength Concrete (HSC) is explored in the presented investigation. Insulation plasters, namely Sand Plaster (SP), Gypsum Perlite Plaster (GPP), and Gypsum Mineral Wool Plaster (GMP) were developed. This investigation evaluates the compressive strength, bond strength, and shear strength of concrete which is exposed to the standard fire temperature. Varying cooling conditions which involved air and water were adopted to cool the concrete specimens after the elevated temperature test. Further, the damaged concrete and the plaster were examined to analyse the physical changes. Analysis of the study reveals that more number of denser surface cracks and higher mass loss was observed for reference and SP specimens. Temperature penetration at the core of cube, bond, and shear specimens is less for the GPP and GMP specimens when compared with the SP specimens. At higher temperatures (986 °C), the reference and SP specimens show a lower bond and shear strength with higher slip values. Specimens insulated with GPP and GMP exhibited a low-temperature penetration at the core portion. Also, the results of the study reported the higher residual compressive, bond, and shear strength compared to other specimens.

An integrated approach in selecting the optimal insulation plaster mortar series

In this study, an integrated approach by Taguchi, Analytic Hierarchy Process [AHP] and Simple Additive Weighting [SAW] method was proposed to find out the optimal insulation plaster mortar series, based on multiple criteria. Firstly, Taguchi method was applied to define the experimental design plan, with the factors of cement, lime, dolomite and perlite in three levels for each with L9 orthogonal design. Then, ultrasonic pulse velocity, compressive strength, bond strength, capillarity water absorption and thermal conductivity experiments, were made according to the design. The importance weights of criteria were obtained by AHP and the scores of the series were calculated by SAW method. The factors’ optimum levels were obtained based on the scores and the optimal series was proposed.

농촌주택 및 목조주택 표준모델 구조체의 습·열 환경 성능 개선 방안

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the standard models for rural housing and wooden housing model have performance for hygrothermal and to propose a way of improvement relevant to hygrothermal performance for those models. All of the models to be analyzed were found to have some parts that were absent of stability in terms of performance for hygrothermal. In the process of analyzing the causes and proposing improvement measures, the following conclusions were derived. Fist, The exterior surface of the structure should be composed of a structure with good moisture permeability, and for the interior surface, a variable vapor retarder paper should be applied in consideration of the reverse condensation phenomenon in summer. Second, in terms of performance for hygrothermal, applications of external insulation plaster finish to the exterior wall or of ventilation method using a rafter vent on the roof should be avoided. Third, a rain screen method with a ventilation layer should be applied to the exterior wall, and a method of constructing ventilation layer separated from the insulation layer with a vapor retarder paper should be applied to the roof. Fourth, the application of insulation materials having capillary action, such as wood fiber insulation board or cellulose insulation board, contributes to more stable performance for hygrothermal.

Possibility of producing thermal insulation materials from cementitious materials without foaming agent or lightweight aggregate.

Due to the high increase in the consumption of building energy in the world, it is urgent to develop and use thermal insulation materials to limit the demand of energy. In this article, the possibility of producing thermal insulation plasters from common cementitious materials such as fly ash (FA), metakaolin (MK), and silica fume (SF) without employing any foaming agent or lightweight aggregate was investigated. Either cement or gypsum was used as a binder material. Eight different types of plaster based on different pozzolanic materials were investigated and compared with the traditional cement mortar plaster (TC). The compressive strength, bulk density, total porosity, thermal conductivity, and thermal resistance were measured. The results showed that it is possible to produce thermal insulation plasters based on pozzolanic materials without including foaming agent or lightweight aggregate. The obtained insulating plasters exhibited low density (888.75-1575.63 kg/m3), high porosity (39.5-57.75%), low thermal conductivity (0.30-0.48 W/mK) and suitable compressive strength. Using gypsum as a binder material was better than cement for insulation purposes. SF showed the highest insulation efficiency followed by FA and MK.

Experimental and Numerical Study on the Heat Transfer Characteristics of a Newly-Developed Solar Active Thermal Insulation System

A newly-developed solar active thermal insulation system (SATIS) is introduced with the main objective to accomplish a highly-dependent total solar transmittance on the irradiation angle. SATIS is also designed to obtain the maximum transmittance at a prescribed design irradiation angle and to reduce it remarkably at higher irradiation angles. A purely mineral thermal insulation plaster with micro hollow glass spheres is applied to manufacture the investigated SATIS prototype. Light-conducting elements (LCEs) have been introduced into SATIS and suitable closing elements have been applied. The SATIS prototype has been investigated both experimentally and numerically. It turned out that the contributions of conduction, radiation and convection to the effective thermal conductivity of SATIS, without the closing elements (49 mWmK), amount to 86.2%, 13.2% and 0.6%, respectively. The angle-dependent short-wave radiation exchange within the LCE has been investigated via ray tracing. At the incidence angle of 19% (design angle), 27% of the radiation within the LCE is absorbed by the absorber plate, resulting in measured and computed total solar energy transmittances of 11.2%/11.7%, respectively. For a typical summer irradiation angle of 60%, 98% of the incident radiation is absorbed by the surfaces at the entrance of the LCE. The corresponding total solar energy transmittance amounts to 2.9%.

The Analysis of Small Investors’ Demands on a Thermal Insulation System for a Family House: A Case Study

This study deals with small investors’ demands on thermal insulation systems when choosing the most suitable solution for a family house. By 2050, seventy percent of current buildings, including residential buildings, are still expected to be in operation. To reach carbon neutrality, it is necessary to reduce operational energy consumption and thus reduce the related cost of building operations and the cost of the life cycle of buildings. One solution is to adapt envelopes of buildings by proper insulation solutions. To choose an optimal thermal insulation system that will reduce energy consumption of building, it is necessary to consider the environmental cost of insulation materials in addition to the construction cost of the materials. The environmental cost of a material depends on the carbon footprint from the initial origin of the material. This study presents the results of a multi-criteria decision-making analysis, where five different contractors set the evaluation criteria for selection of the optimal thermal insulation system. In their decision-making, they involved the requirements of small investors. The most common requirements were selected: the construction cost, the construction time (represented by the total man-hours), the thermal conductivity coefficient, the diffusion resistance factor, and the reaction to fire. The confidences of the criteria were then determined with the help of the pairwise comparison method. This was followed by multi-criteria decision-making using the method of index coefficients, also known as the method of basic variant. The multi-criteria decision-making included thermal insulation systems based on polystyrene, mineral wool, thermal insulation plaster, and aerogels’ nanotechnology. As a result, it was concluded that, currently, in Slovakia, small investors emphasize the cost of material and the coefficient of thermal conductivity and they do not care as much about the carbon footprint of the material manufacturing, the importance of which is mentioned in this study.

МОДЕЛЮВАННЯ ТЕПЛОПЕРЕДАВАННЯ У ВУЗЛІ ПРИМИКАННЯ ВІКОННОГО БЛОКУ ДО ЗОВНІШНЬОЇ СТІНИ

The linear coefficients of heat transfer of the nodes of the window block to the external walls are analyzed, the values of which are recommended by the existing regulatory framework. It is noticed that the existing design of the junction is not energy efficient enough. An improved method of constructing the node of the window block to the outer wall to increase the thermal resistance, which is protected by a utility model patent, is proposed. Reduction of heat loss is achieved by installing a layer of aerogel insulation at the junction of the wall to the window unit, on top of which is applied thermal insulation plaster. Based on the simulation of the window unit adjacency unit to the outer wall in the DAMWERK software package, the energy efficiency analysis of the proposed design of the window unit adjacency unit to the outer wall as a "cold bridge" was performed.

Super insulation plasters in renovation of buildings in Sweden: energy efficiency and possibilities with new building materials

Super insulation plasters are new and high energy efficient plasters mixed with aerogel particles. Aerogel is a porous and low-density material with very low thermal conductivity compared to the traditional insulation materials. Today, approximately 27% of Sweden’s multi-family houses have a plaster façade. Plaster is commonly used in many other European countries as well. In this paper, numerical simulations are utilized to estimate the total magnitude of energy and CO 2 emissions that can be saved annually in Sweden by using super insulation plasters. In additional, possibilities and challenges in conjunction with the introduction of new techniques and materials in the building sector have been addressed, through interviews and literature review. The annual energy use and CO 2 emissions can be reduced by 74±48 GWh and 1000 ±600 ton respectively if 10% of Sweden’s multi-family houses are externally insulated by super insulation plaster. Based on the interviews it is evident that distinct information and documentation about a new building material, concerning the material properties and long-term performance, needs to be provided by the producer before usage of the material on industrial scale. Another important issue is the cost of a new technique and that it has to be economically motivated. Implementation of the super insulation plaster in Swedish buildings can contribute to achieving the sustainable development goals numbers 7, 8 and 9 by 2030, by increasing the energy efficiency of buildings and productivity on construction sites.

Increase of energy performance of residential buildings with enclosing structures made of masonries with application of ceramic blocks

Economy of energy resources in the Russian Federation is currently the urgent national environmental and economic problem as the package of measures providing energy saving has high profitability and environmental safety as compared with energy resources buildup. Therefore, much attention is paid to energy saving for the account of reducing heat loss through the enclosing structures at engineering and construction of residential buildings. Therewith, diverse elements of three-layer wall structures are reducing general reliability thereof at failure probability exposed to various factors. The buildings with the enclosing structures made of hollow porous blocks are slightly behind the three-layer wall structure by specific heat-resistant performance, with the base layer thereof consisting of solid ceramic brick and efficient heat insulation layer. The problem of construction and erection work quality is arising therewith. The heat engineering calculation of monolayer structure made as masonry of 510mm PORIKAM 14.3NF ceramic hollow porous blocks finished on the outside by heat insulation plaster is presented herein. Temperature fields are calculated in Therm 7.4 program. The design diagram for the structure part (cross section of the wall) is being made in the program for this purpose with indication of heat engineering data of the materials and overlaying of boundary conditions in both “inside” and “outside” surfaces. Graphic images of thermal fields and heat transfer are presented by the calculation results. Noncompliance with some regulatory requirements at making construction and erection operations are reviewed and simulated, with the reduced heat transfer resistance of the structures being calculated therewith. Noncompliance with the masonry technology results in increase of heat loss thereby reducing heat efficiency.

Electrical Impedance Used for Measurement of Moisture Distribution in Thermal Insulation Plasters

High moisture in building materials has a negative influence on their physical and thermal insulating properties. When building materials incorporated in a structure exceed the maximum permissible moisture, the material could change its properties to such an extent that its next usage is unfeasible. In case of thermal insulating materials, it causes serious degradation of thermal insulating properties. During the development of advanced thermal insulation plasters, long-term laboratory experiments were performed using masonry construction fragments, which focused on the study of their moisture proportions. For this purpose a new non-destructive method of electrical impedance was used, which enables measurements on defined levels in a matrix of test samples. Results obtained by measurements made on the surface of the samples were compared with the results obtained by a capacitive hygrometer. It was concluded that these methods provided similar results. The least moisture sensitive was the mixture, which was applied on masonry pillar E. In comparison with used thermal insulation plasters commonly used today this plaster shows considerably lower value of mass moisture under laboratory conditions, 1.38%. This pillar also exhibited the most uniform course of conductance measured along its height.

Long-term experimental performance evaluation of aerogel insulation plaster

Aerogel based insulation plaster has the potential to facilitate the thermal retrofit of historic buildings as its deployment can accommodate the requirements of historical preservation. Thereby, the thermal resistance of historical facades can be increased while maintaining their appearance. The present contribution includes the results of a long-term empirical examination of aerogel containing plaster systems especially for historic buildings under real conditions. In the course of this study, multiple test fields with aerogel insulation plaster were applied to the external walls of an existing room in a university building. Thereby different finishing coatings as well as variations with and without reinforcement mesh were considered. Over a period of three years, external and internal environmental parameters as well as hygro-thermal conditions (temperature, moisture concentration, heat flux) at multiple layers within the test fields were monitored. Moreover, the external appearance of the test fields was regularly captured via observation and photographic documentation. The measured data provided the basis to compare the actual thermal transmittance of the test fields with calculation results based on declared material properties. In addition, the results facilitate the comparison of the different solutions. Specifically, the results suggest a promising thermal performance level (in view of considerably lower U-values) as compared to conventional plaster products. Furthermore, the findings document the role of the finishing layer’s composition in view of the occurrence of potential cracks in the façade.

Computational Simulation of Behaviour of Developed Thermal Insulation Plaster Based on Silicates with the Use of Program WUFI 2D

The investigation of the hygrothermal behavior of advanced silica materials, which are today in ever increasing demand during the reconstruction of building envelopes, is an important point of research. For determining the moisture balance in building structures, the Glaser method is most frequently used to day which, however, considers during calculations water diffusion only in stationary state at simplified marginal conditions; it does not take into account the moisture transport in the capillary system of the material structure, nor the sorption properties of the material. The goal of the research is therefore to gain deeper knowledge of the way heat and moisture transport through the pore structure of these silica materials. The paper describes verification of efficacy of thermal insulation and rehabilitation silicate plastering. Based on experiences from previously research and their results were chosen 2 developed plasters for computational simulation of their behavior in the case of detail of window jamb. One type of developed plastering was placed from the site of interior and the second type of plastering was applied from the site of exterior.

Possibility of Using Metakaolin as Thermal Insulation Material

The use of energy in the building sector accounts a significant part of the world’s total energy and greenhouse gas emissions. In order to meet the demands of improved energy efficiency, thermal insulation of buildings plays an important role. To attain the highest possible thermal insulation, new insulation plaster types with low thermal conductivity values have been investigated and developed. In the current investigation, the possibility of using new plaster types based on metakaolin (MK) as heat insulation material and elevated temperature resistance has been studied and compared with that of traditional Portland cement plaster. Either cement or gypsum was used as a binder material. Three different plaster types containing MK were investigated as well as the traditional cement plaster (TC), which was used as a reference. Density and thermal conductivity values were measured. The compressive strength values before and after exposure to $$600\,^{\circ }\hbox {C}$$ for 2 h were identified. The results showed that it is possible to produce different plaster types based on MK as heat insulation materials as well as elevated temperature resistance. MK plaster types exhibited approximately 65.7 % to 72 % lower thermal conductivity than that of TC plaster.