Utilization of Baggase Waste Based Materials as Improvement for Thermal Insulation of Cement Brick

¹ Department of Structures and Materials, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor
² Department of Building and Construction, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Batu Pahat
³ Department of Environmental Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor

^* Corresponding author: eeydzah@utm.my

Abstract

Building materials having low thermal load and low thermal conductivity will provide thermal comforts to the occupants in building. In an effort to reduce the use of high energy and waste products from the agricultural industry, sugarcane bagasse and banana bagasse has been utilize as an additive in the manufacture of cement brick. The aim of this study is to investigate the insulation and mechanical properties of brick that has been mixed with bagasse and its effectiveness as thermal insulation using heat flow meter. Waste bagasse is being treated using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and is characterized using SEM and XRF. The samples produced with two different dimensions of 50 mm × 50 mm × 50 mm and 215mm × 102.5mm × 65mm for thermal conductivity test. Next, the sample varies from 0% (control sample), 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% in order to determine the best mix proportion. The compressive strength is being tested for 7, 14 and 28 days of water curing. Results showed that banana bagasse has lower thermal conductivity compared to sugarcane bagasse used, with compressive strength of 15.6MPa with thermal conductivity 0.6W/m.K.