Properties of foam concretes containing hemp fiber and zeolite blended cements

Recently, due to energy-oriented approaches, investigations have been continue intensively on building materials, as in many areas in the construction industry. Mineral additives and mineral additives with pozzolanic activity continue to be a focus in the sector for reasons such as energy saving outputs, environmental protection and performance improvement of the final product in cement and concrete production. Mineral additives reduce the clinker ratio, whenever they are included in cement production at optimum ratios. Thus, in addition to saving energy, it also contributes significantly to solving the problem of CO2 emissions. At the same time, mineral additives increase the performance of the product they are used in, thanks to their fineness and pozzolanic activity. On the other hand, energy consumption of buildings for heating aims has a significant share in world energy demand. Foam concretes are a very successful concrete class in achieving thermal comfort conditions due to their porous structure. However, despite the thermal performance advantage of foam concrete, its brittle structure needs to be improved and its strength and durability performances need to be increased. For this reason, the use of mineral additives and fiber reinforcement in mixtures of foam concrete under load is a appropriate solution. The aim of this thesis is to examine the physical and mechanical properties of foam concrete containing hemp fiber reinforcement and zeolite blended cement. In addition, it is to create scientific data on the use of natural zeolite with pozzolan properties in cement production and on hemp fiber reinforcement in foam concrete productions. In the study, the effects of natural hemp fiber reinforcement used in different proportions and subjected to different surface treatments on the physical and mechanical properties of foam concrete samples were examined. The findings obtained from the test series in the test program in this thesis study were discussed by using the comparison method. The water/cement ratio and cement dosage of the foam concrete samples were kept constant. Zeolite was replaced by cement clinker at ratios of 10% and 15%. Natural hemp fiber reinforcements were added to foam concrete samples containing zeolite blended cement at different ratios as 1% (low), 2% (medium) and 3% (high). Hemp fibers were subjected to two different surface treatments before being added to the mixture. Tests such as mini slump, dispersion, specific gravity, water absorption by weight, capillary water absorption, ultrasonic pulse velocity, bending-compressive strength were carried out on the produced foam concrete samples. According to the results of the test study, it has been determined that there are positive improvements in the performance of foam concretes containing up to 3% natural hemp fiber reinforcement, up to 15% zeolite blended cement and subjected to soda and sulphate surface treatment.