NON-CONVENTIONAL COLD PREPARATION OF CELLULAR GLASS UNDER ECONOMICAL AND ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY CONDITIONS

Abstract

Peculiarities of the modern cellular concrete manufacturing technique were borrowed in the expanding glass technique at ambient temperature presented in the work. Using aluminum dust in calcium hydroxide solution and adding carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as a froth fixer, cellular glass specimens with excellent insulating properties with minimal energy consumption could be experimentally obtained, as an alternative solution to conventional methods industrially used. The tests presented in this article intend to improve the mechanical resistance of the cellular product under the conditions of preserving existing insulating properties by adding to the starting mixture a very effective ultrafine powder (silica fume) contributing to the increase of strength and durability. Completing the manufacturing recipe with silica fume is the originality element compared to the previously applied solutions. The results confirmed the effectiveness of the new method, the compressive strength increasing up to 4.7 MPa under conditions of density below 0.35 g·cm^-3 and heat conductivity below 0.079 W·m^-1·K^-1.