The development of high insulation building materials by using light-weight aggregates and investigation of the thermal and acoustic performance

Perlite is one of the most important mineral resources in Turkey where a large part of world reserves was estimated to be found in. Perlite is a siliceous volcanic glass that provides heat and sound insulation. When it is expanded, it's volume increases about 30 times of the original volume. Despite the fact that Perlite is used in different areas, the most common usage is seen in the construction sector. Hence, evaluating the perlite, which has advantages in terms of heat and sound insulation, in building industry will make an important contribution to the national economy. The major part of heat loss in a building results from exterior walls and roofs. However, aggregate materials generally constitute about 70–80% by volume of concrete, aggregates can be expected to have a more important influence than the other parameters on concretes as well. In this context, experimental investigations are performed for obtaining new concrete types with relatively high strength, low density and good thermal and acoustic properties for energy efficient buildings. For this purpose, 6 sets and different types of concrete samples were prepared with a constant water-cement ratio, and normal aggregates replaced by expanded perlite aggregates at different volume fractions such as 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% and 60% of the total aggregate volume. Mechanical tests were all conducted and the hot disk method was used to establish thermal property values of concrete samples. As a result, with suitable characteristic usage of expanded perlite aggregate was understood to be effective on the mechanical and thermal properties of perlite aggregated light weight concrete and the relations between the mechanical and thermal properties were determined.