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Use of waste and low energy material in building block construction
(School of Engineering, Cardiff University, 2013) Yalley, Paa Kofi Peter; A.S.K, Kwan
A newly proposed concept of a plastic carton soil blocks as masonry units for low-cost environmentally friendly construction is proposed. A test system was designed to perform rigorous and comprehensive measurements on seven types of soil block specimens encased in thermoplastic cartons. The cartons were similar to “ice cream tubs” of dimensions 165x60x120mm, thus making a building block/brick of reasonable handling size. Some of the test specimens also had soil mixed with palm or plastic fibres. The soil content was placed in the plastic cartons and compacted with compaction table and then with a compression machine before testing for strength. Thermoplastic carton soil blocks without the addition of fibres as an enhancement were measured with a minimum compressive strength of 17.5MPa. In the case of the fibre enhanced soil block, the compressive strength increased with increase in fibre content. With fibre addition of 1.5% (by weight), the compressive strength of the thermoplastic cartons increased by 28.5% and 38% respectively for palm and plastic fibres, over the plain thermoplastic carton soil block without fibres. Additionally, stiffness is also greatly improved.