THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF RICE HUSK ASH MORTAR REINFORCED WITH SUGARCANE BAGASSE

Abstract

Today, construction is a very important lever on which we can act to preserve a viable environment. It must be said that there is still a great need to use air conditioning to ensure thermal comfort in buildings; this implies the need to look for materials with good thermal properties. This study evaluates the thermal conductivity of a rice husk ash mortar reinforced with sugarcane bagasse. Its aim is to offer an alternative to conventional materials that consume more energy. To achieve this, we formulated an M0 mortar in which the cement is replaced by 10% rice husk ash (RHA); we then substituted the M0 mortar with 3%, 6% and 10% sugarcane bagasse in volume fraction, resulting in the MCB3, MCB6 and MCB10 mortars. Finally, the thermal conductivities were measured on three specimens of each of the formulations, and the average of the three values was taken as the thermal conductivity of the formulation in question. The thermal probe method is used to measure the thermal conductivities of mortars. The results of the tests show that the thermal conductivity of the mortars decreases as the volume of sugarcane bagasse increases. The maximum thermal conductivity was obtained with the M0 mortar, with a value of 0.42W/°K/m. The minimum thermal conductivity is presented by the MCB10 mortar with a value of 0.316W/°K/m. The MCB10 material can be used as an alternative to conventional bricks to provide better thermal insulation for our buildings.