Fabrication of a Porous Ceramic Material Suitable for Cost-effective Thermal Insulation of Buildings

The domestication of cost-effective, green, and sustainable building materials is significant towards its massive adoption in the developing countries. The feasibility of developing porous ceramics for cost-effective thermal insulation of buildings was explored in this study using waste materials including granite shifting and sawdust as well as chemical reagents including water glass and sodium hydroxide. Granite shifting and sawdust were dried, processed into powdered form, milled and sieved. Samples of porous ceramics were formulated using varying percentages by weight of granite shifting and sawdust mixed with a constant percentage by weight of water glass and sodium hydroxide in three different cases. The homogenized powder of the formulated composition was uniaxially pressed at 10Mpa. The samples were dried and then sintered in a gas kiln at 8500C for 3 hours. The result revealed water absorption (21.1−56.5%), compressive strength (1.2−7.9Mpa), bulk density (1.44−1.81g/cm3), apparent porosity (38.1−81.3%), and thermal conductivity (0.13−0.54W/m.K). These results indicated that the obtained porous ceramics is a potential material for cost-effective thermal insulation of buildings where a suitable combination of thermal conductivity, porosity, and mechanical strength is required.