Abstract
The present work aimed to explore the potential of using Al2(SO4)3 and NaHCO3 as gas-producing additives for the formation of foamed gypsum. Three systems of additives, namely Al2(SO4)3 + CaCO3, Al2(SO4)3 + citric acid, and NaHCO3, were investigated for their foam-forming ability in order to lower the thermal conductivity while preserving the compressive strength of the foamed gypsum. Emphasis was given to the setting time such that it would lie within 20–25 min, for the formulation to be practically useful. The results showed that, within the desired setting time, NaHCO3 provided the lowest thermal conductivity (~0.22 W/mK) and the highest efficiency (i.e., the highest rate of the thermal conductivity reduction for each percent of additives) among the three systems studied. It was also the system that best preserved the compressive strength for every unit reduction in the thermal conductivity. However, the corresponding compressive strength of 0.72 MPa was still very low, about three times lower than that of the other systems. The Al2(SO4)3 + CaCO3 system yielded a lower thermal conductivity (~0.24 W/mK) than the Al2(SO4)3 + citric system (~0.31 W/mK), although their corresponding compressive strengths (~2.4 MPa) were quite similar. Therefore, given the desired setting time, the Al2(SO4)3 + CaCO3 system produced the best combination of thermal conductivity and compressive strength.
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This work is supported by the National Metal and Materials Technology Center, Thailand, under Grant no. P1200971.
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Umponpanarat, P., Wansom, S. Thermal conductivity and strength of foamed gypsum formulated using aluminum sulfate and sodium bicarbonate as gas-producing additives. Mater Struct 49, 1115–1126 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-015-0562-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1617/s11527-015-0562-1