Study on Sustainable Building Materials to Develop Block for Net Zero Carbon Building

Agricultural by-products are increasingly being used to produce bio-based concretes. Instead of sand, sustainable blocks can be made using natural wastes (sugarcane bagasse was investigated) or agricultural waste materials (cornstalk). These materials are environmentally friendly porous fibers and have excellent sound absorption properties, making them suitable for noise reduction. Click or tap here to enter text. The use of compaction forming technology has allowed the development of a sustainable bio-composites consisting of cornstalks (CS), limestone powder (LP), micro fly ash (FA), gypsum powder (GP), and micro silica flume powder (MSP). The purpose of this experiment was to determine sustainability-based block (SSB)’s apparent density, compressive strength, and thermal conductivity with respect to forming pressure, CS content, and fly ash content. The microstructure changes of typical SSB samples were also analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). SSB’s compressive strength can be effectively improved by increasing FP, while its apparent density and thermal conductivity are less affected. From 30 to 50%, CS content resulted in a 47% decrease in thermal conductivity and a significant 47% decrease in compressive strength. Thermal conductivity decreased by 9.48% with 20% FA, LP, but apparent density decreased only slightly. The compressive strength of SSB can be increased by 4.17% by adding 10% FA as an admixture to LP and MSP. Thermal conductivity was predicted using a linear empirical model based on apparent density. Through the microstructure changes within SSB, it was also possible to identify the micromechanics underpinning the bonding between LP, FA, MSP, and CS. Building thermal insulation with SSB is based on the findings of the study and aims to develop a SSB brick or block and cheaper block.