THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF REINFORCED GEOPOLYMER FOAMS

Abstract

Reinforced geopolymer foams were studied in this work as potential building materials. It has been widely assumed that for a given thermal conductivity [Wm -1 K -1 ], geopolymer foams can have a lighter density than other materials. The study sought to test this assumption by comparing the thermal conductivity between geopolymer foams. The thermal conductivity was measured using an ISOMET 2014 device. In all the experiments, the geopolymer foams were obtained by adding aluminium powder and several combinations: silica fume and fine sand reinforced by short basalt fibres. Curing was carried out at room temperature and then in a furnace at 70 C. After the curing process, the properties of the samples were tested at 7 and 28 days. The results show that the thermal conductivity, porosity, compressive strength, flexural strength and density for all of the tests ranged in the following values: 0.13 -0.359 Wm -1 K -1 ; 41. 8 -62.5 %; 1.94 -9 MPa; 0.96 -2.93 MPa; 546 -1028 kgm -3 , respectively. It was proven that the filler in the geopolymer foams has a significant influence on the mechanical and physical properties of the tested samples.