Light-weight and High Thermal Insulation Building Material; A Comparative Study between Cenosphere & Fly ash

• Published in: Materials today : proceedings
• Main Authors: Agrawal, U.S., Wanjari, S.P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01-04-2023
• Subjects: Cenosphere; Compressive Strength; Fly ash; Heat of Hydration; Light-weight; Thermal Insulation; Compressive Strength; Fly ash; Heat of Hydration; Light-weight; Thermal Insulation; Cenosphere
• ISSN: 2214-7853; 2214-7853
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2023.04.088

The increasing demand for light-weight sustainable materials have led researchers to find the alternatives to the available natural resources used as construction materials. Cenospheres are hollow fly ash particles which are obtained from fly ash waste by burning coal in thermal plants. Cenospheres have been widely used as filler materials in various industries like aircraft, automation etc, due to its light-weight and high thermal resistivity, However, the use of cenospheres in construction industry has been limited, Therefore, in this research an attempt has been made to replace OPC with cenosphere particles. The cement was replaced from 0-30% to produce a light-weight and high thermal insulation concrete. This concrete was studied for the properties like fresh, heat of hydration mechanical, durability and thermal conductivity. It was observed that the heat of hydration significantly reduced by the use of cenosphere particles. The density of the concrete was also reduced with the increment in the content of cenosphere in concrete, however with the decrease in the density the mechanical strength of concrete also reduced but was within the design strength of concrete. It was also observed that the cenosphere contribute to the late gain in the strength of the concrete similar to the fly ash concrete. The thermal conductivity of the concrete reduced by more than 50% with the incorporation of the cenosphere in the concrete. From this research it can be concluded that cenosphere can be used as a replacement to cement in the concrete to produce a light-weight and high thermal insulated concrete.