Thermal behavior of traditional lightweight gypsum with construction and demolition waste materials

Abstract

The Waste to Resources (W2R) project is designing several new materials using waste generated in building rehabilitation works in order to improve energy efficiency. A catalogue of different building construction materials using CDW is developed focused on gypsum and cement conglomerates. This paper shows part of the results obtained in this project related to the thermal behavior of some of the analyzed gypsum compounds containing: expanded polystyrene (EPS), extruded polystyrene (XPS), glass waste and a mixture of glass wool fiber and glass-powder. In addition, a reference sample was prepared for comparing the results. All samples were tested with a thermal conductivity analyzer (Model CTherm TCi) obtaining the following thermal properties: thermal effusivity, thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity and heat capacity. Results of reference samples were compared with those obtained by other authors in previous researches where other techniques of measurement were used. In addition, a visual exploration was carried out with a Dino-Lite digital microscope.