జర్నల్ ఆఫ్ సివిల్ అండ్ ఎన్విరాన్‌మెంటల్ ఇంజినీరింగ్

Evaluation of Thermal and Mechanical Properties of Cement Mortar Containing Expanded Polystyrene Waste

Abstract

Aqil MK Almusaw*

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in the thermal properties of building materials to increase comfortability, low energy consumption, and sustainability when used the Expanded Polystyrene Waste (EPSw) as a filler substance. Using this non-biodegradable waste in cement mortar represents a solution to minimize 2 its negative impact on our environment as well as to reduce the CO₂ emission due to cement manufacturing. Five groups of cement mortar containing chopped EPSw (20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 volume percentage) in addition to the reference mix were poured to investigate the density, thermal conductivity, water absorption, compressive strength, and flexural strength. The distribution of the non-homogeneous ingredients was controlled by using a superplasticizer admixture and using chopped EPSw of 1 mm maximum size particles. Results show a high reduction in the thermal conductivity (70.5%) of the mortar containing 60% EPSw compared with the control mix. However, other mechanical properties had acceptable values for many building applications, even for the masonry products of compressive strength of 5 MPa.