Light Cellular Gypsum-Based Material for Construction Applications

The procedure of preparing a light gypsum-based material using aluminium powder activated in aqueous Ca(OH)2 solution was tested in this work. The aluminium was recycled from post-consumer soft drink packaging waste, melted under the action of microwaves and atomized into very fine particles by direct contact with concentrated nitrogen jets. Except for calcined gypsum as the main raw material, other additive materials were used: coal ash, vermiculite, polypropylene fibres, polystyrene beads, silica fume, and carboxymethyl cellulose. The process took place at room temperature. The obtained product had good thermal insulation properties (density between 527-595 kg·m-3 and heat conductivity in the range of 0.147-0.180 W·m-1·K-1) as well as satisfactory compression strength (between 1.2-2.0 MPa).