Ecofriendly building blocks using foamed concrete with ground granulated blast furnace slag

Abstract

The cost of construction has intensified very significantly in recent years, which is a great area of concern for all the stakeholders. Production of conventional bricks causes substantial depletion of natural resources and creates environmental pollution, which have led the researchers to find a more sustainable solution. Foamed concrete is such an innovative and versatile material, which consists of a cement-based mortar having minimum 20% of volume filled with air. Researches are progressing with post-consumer wastes and industrial by-products such as fly ash, quarry dust, slags, etc. for the production of alternate building blocks. The utilisation of industrial waste materials in concrete compensates the lack of natural resources, solving the disposal issues of waste and to find an alternative technique to safeguard nature. Foamed Concrete has become quite popular in the construction industry because of its light weight and thermal insulation properties. This is an attempt to focus the attention to discuss at length concerned with the utilisation of industrial wastes in foamed concrete construction. This paper discusses the use of Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) in the manufacture of building blocks using foamed concrete. It has been observed that there is an increase in compressive strength by the addition of GGBFS up to 20% and then decreases when 40% GGBFS was added.

Keywords

• foamed concrete
• ggbfs
• compressive strength
• sustainability
• thermal conductivity