Development of Building and Insulation Epoxy Based Composite Materials Loaded with Construction and Demolition Wastes; Mechanical and Thermal- Insulation Behaviour Analysis

Abstract

The development of composite materials filled using Construction and Demolition wastes (CDW), characterised by descent mechanical and thermo-insulating properties has been investigated experimentally in this paper. Composites of epoxy resin containing CDW of different grain size and w/w concentrations as additives were manufactured. Additives used, have been prepared through appropriate processing. Our investigations indicated that flexural and shear properties of composites encapsulating 300 μm additives at 30% w/w have been improved, compared to all other composites examined (i.e. composites loaded with 300 μm additives at 40% and 50% (w/w), 500 μm loaded composites at 30%, 40, and 50% w/w), taking a value of 60.03 MPa for flexural strength and 7.54 MPa for shear strength respectively, characterizing them as optimum, in terms of mechanical performance. Next, the thermal insulation capacity study for these materials has been then carried out. Thermo-insulating efficiency of composites has been evaluated by determination of thermal conductivity coefficient (λ), which has been calculated at 1.02 W m-1 K-1, exhibiting good insulation performance, compared to conventional building and insulation materials. The feature of these materials to demonstrate combined adequate mechanical and thermal insulation properties, confirms their appropriateness to be utilised as building and insulation materials.