(48w) Fabrication of Low Cost Insulating Material from Kaolin Clay for Construction Purposes

A new low cost, thermal insulator, construction mineral polymeric material was synthesized from local Saudi Arabia resources using Inorganic Mineral Polymerization technique (MiP).  In this technique, the mineral polymer is produced from the following components: clay mineral rich in koalinite, sand, sodium hydroxide solution, and water. Inorganic polymerization experiments are conducted by mixing known amounts of clay minerals and sand in a variable speed stainless-steel mixer for some period of times until a homogenous solid mixture is obtained. Sodium hydroxide solution is added to the mixture and the polymerization reaction takes place at different mixing speeds and times. The produced mixture is divided into a number of samples of known weights. Each sample is moulded in a stainless-steel cylinder at a medium pressure. Then the moulded samples are cured in an oven for 24 hours. The curing temperature was 80°C. The mineral polymerization conditions such as the ratio of clay to sand filler, particle size of the clay, particle size of the sand, concentration and amount of sodium hydroxide, speed and time of mixing were optimized to obtain stable and hard mineral polymer. Compressive strength for different specimens of fabricated mineral polymers was tested under dry and wet conditions. Values of compressive strength with values ranging from 11.5 MPa to 27.9 MPa were obtained.