Scaling up of clay binders for building materials
Description: In the next 30 years, we will assist to a significant migration to urban areas and a global growth in world population. This causes incredible challenges in terms of building our cities and mineral resources become scarce around cities, promoting illegal exploitation and endangering natural ecosystems. In view of the stated objectives regarding the reduction of gas emissions, during the COP21 in Paris, the construction sector has thus a role to play: we will need to build this new urban environment and alternative technologies are crucially needed. We must integrate the availability of the resource, the environmental consequences of the construction and its speed of execution to choose an appropriate technology. Without transport and with infinite recycling possibilities, earth is one of the building materials with the lowest environmental impact and representing the best example of a closed material flow loop: from excavation site to construction elements. This earth is available everywhere, but it forces us to think about a constructive technology that uses on site and in a very quick way an excavated earth. Recent advances in the earth materials field has been done, based on concrete and ceramics industry. The use of dispersants allows us to radically decrease the amount of water to fluidify that material and to be able to cast it. However, further work on the development of a performant self-compacting clay concrete must be performed. This process preserves the initial material but does not improve its internal cohesion and resistance. As a consequence, additional removal of the water is still required to achieve higher strength, and to avoid potential disorder such as cracking, shrinkage, high porosity and associated reduced compressive strength.
Amount: CHF 200,500
Funding type: research
Funder scheme: Project funding
Start date: 2017-08-01
End date: 2020-07-31
Investigator: Habert, Guillaume
Institution: ETH Zurich – ETHZ
Subfield: Building and Construction
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Funded outputs count: 2
Funder award ID: 169359
OpenAlex ID: G1854134143