Preparation and optimization of ultra-light and thermal insulative aerogel foam concrete

[Display omitted] •A three-component aerogel foam concrete with cement, aerogel, and pores was prepared.•The concrete had lower density and thermal conductivity and better formability.•A predictive model of the effective thermal conductivity was established.•The optimal ratio of the concrete was obt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Construction & building materials 2019-04, Vol.205, p.529-542
Main Authors: Li, Pengwei, Wu, Huijun, Liu, Yanchen, Yang, Jianming, Fang, Zhaosong, Lin, Borong
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerogel
Analysis
Buildings
Energy efficiency
Energy efficient buildings
Energy management
Environmental aspects
Evaluation
Foam concrete
Green design
Novels
Thermal conductivity
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Summary:[Display omitted] •A three-component aerogel foam concrete with cement, aerogel, and pores was prepared.•The concrete had lower density and thermal conductivity and better formability.•A predictive model of the effective thermal conductivity was established.•The optimal ratio of the concrete was obtained through modeling optimization. Lightweight and thermal insulative foam concrete has gathered increasing interests in buildings for energy efficiency. However, their density (∼400 kg/m3) and thermal conductivity (0.10 W/(m·K)) need to be further decreased for high performance applications in green and nearly zero energy buildings. A novel type of aerogel foam concrete with a low density of 198 kg/m3 and thermal conductivity of 0.049 W/(m·K) was successfully fabricated by adding super-insulative and Nano-porous aerogels into micro-porous foam concrete. The microstructure and thermal conductivity of the aerogel foam concrete were experimentally investigated. A model was established for predicting the thermal conductivity of the aerogel foam concrete based on a modified Maxwell model. The calculated results were validated with experimental data, with an error of less than 5%. By using the model, the effects of the ternary ratios on the thermal conductivity were investigated, and the optimization aiming at the minimum thermal conductivity was then implemented. Accordingly, a ternary aerogel foam concrete sample with the optimal ratios was experimentally prepared, whose thermal conductivity and density were approximately 50% lower than those of existing foam concrete. Therefore, the novel type aerogel foam concrete, yielding high performance, could be extensively used for potential applications in green and nearly zero-energy consumption buildings.
ISSN:0950-0618
1879-0526
DOI:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2019.01.212