Raw material research to improve heat insulation capacity of concrete cladding plates of structures

Construction sector in civil engineering applications has gradually expanding in last decades in Turkey. In recent years, certain researches have been carried out in heat insulation subjects to improve energy conservation of constructions in Turkey. Light weight aggregates usage for constructions which especially have high heat insulation properties have gradually been increased in different manner in construction sector in Turkey. Within the scope of this thesis, it was aimed to produce concrete cladding plates from the raw materials, which have low densities and high insulation properties, supplied by quarries. Within the scope of the thesis, it was decided to use 3 different volcanic rock materials mined near Konya region. The first raw material was the tuff material classified as "waste" due to their sizes in planned open pit quarry near Evliyatekke village (Konya). The density of this tuff is approximately 0.9 ton/m3. The main contents of the material are silica, iron and aluminum compounds. The second raw material which was selected for the work was Aksaray pumice material. Related pumice quarries are 145 km away from Konya city. Density of pumice material supplied through these quarries is around 1.2 ton/m3. The main contents of Aksaray pumices are silica and iron compounds. The third raw material was also pumice materials supplied through quarries near Nevsehir city, which is 200 km away from Konya. Density of pumice material supplied through these quarries is around 1.2 ton/m3. Evliyatekke tuffs are planned to be operated by open pit mining methods. Tuff-blocks were planned to cut from main reserve rock masses. Waste or remains of tuff rocks at this open pit mine are going to be deposited (planned) near the quarry. These waste tuff materials were aimed to handle one of the raw materials to produce concrete claddings. This application was planned to handle waste usage of the planned tuff mine which is positive impact on natural environments. Aksaray tuff and Nevsehir pumice materials are construction materials extracted from the related quarries. They have been classified according to their aggregate grain sizes. In order to produce concrete cladding plates with improved heat insulation value, it was proposed to produce the most suitable concrete by mixing these three raw materials in different aggregate sizes on different mixture proportions. The aim was selected to supply related sizes and proportion rations of selected raw materials to lead economic products which have improved heat insulation properties of construction.