Effects of Incorporating Date Palm Waste as a Thermal Insulating Material on the Physical Properties and Mechanical Behavior of Compressed Earth Block

Abstract

This paper presents an experimental investigation to examine the mechanical, thermal, and physical properties, and to perform the microstructural analysis of compressed earth block (CEB) incorporating date palm waste aggregates (DPWA) as a thermal insulating material and stabilized with quicklime. The findings indicated a quite high improvement in the thermal insulation performance of blocks integrating date palm waste aggregates (DPWAs). It was also found that the compressive and flexural strength values of CEB dropped when the DPWA content increased while still remaining within the interval advocated for compressed earth blocks (CEBs). In addition, the CEB elastic modulus followed the same pattern as the flexural and compressive strengths. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations and the EDX findings came to corroborate all the results related to the mechanical and thermal properties of CEBs.

Keywords

• compressed earth block
• date palm waste
• thermal conductivity
• physical properties
• mechanical properties
• microstructural analysis