Abstract

VILLAQUIRAN-CAICEDO, Mónica A.; PEREA, Vilmary N.; RUIZ, Jhon E.  and  GUTIERREZ, Ruby Mejía de. Mechanical, physical and thermoacoustic properties of lightweight composite geopolymers. Ing. compet. [online]. 2022, vol.24, n.1, e20710985.  Epub Oct 30, 2021. ISSN 0123-3033.  https://doi.org/10.25100/iyc.24i1.10985.

This research evaluates the physical and mechanical properties of particulate composites, produced from geopolymer paste with the incorporation of different organic type wastes as expanded polystyrene (EP), corkwood (CK), tire rubber (RB); in percentages by volume of 2, 4, and 6%. Metakaolin was used as a precursor of the geopolymer produced by alkali activation from NaOH and sodium silicate. The geopolymer composites were cured at room temperature. Properties as density, porosity, absorption, compressive strength, thermal conductivity, and acoustic behavior were evaluated. As complementary techniques, light and scanning electron microscopy were used. It was observed that the high alkalinity of the geopolymer mixture causes deterioration of the CK particles. Composites with the incorporation of 4% of the EP and RB particles reported compressive strength of 32 and 45 MPa at 28 days, and apparent density of 1853 and 1922 kg/m3, respectively, which represents a reduction of 6.08% and 2.58% in comparison to the GP reference. The thermal conductivity for composites with 4% of EP and RB was 0.316 and 0.344 W/m.K and the sound absorption coefficient was evaluated at frequencies of 500 Hz, 0.70, and 0.50 respectively. The evaluated performance properties show the feasibility of using 4% of EP and RB for the manufacture of geopolymer composites for applications in thermal and sound insulating panels.

Keywords : corkwood; expanded polystyrene; geopolymer; rubber wastes; thermoacoustic insulator.

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