Foamed concrete: potential application in thermal insulation

Abstract

Foamed concrete is one of the materials in lightweight concrete category which also known as closed cell structure and have lower density between 300 kg/m3 to 1600kg/m3 and thermal conductivity properties between 0.10W/mK to 0.66 W/mK. The compressive strength of foam concrete is just about 1 to 60Mpa compare to normal concrete which achieved 100Mpa in compressive strength. The thermal conductivity of normal concrete is about 1.6 W/mK with 2200 kg/m3 density. This papers focus on the thermal insulation properties of foam concrete. Closed cell structure in foam concrete plays important roles in providing great thermal insulation performance. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the concepts of thermal insulation, the properties of foamed concrete and also thermal comparison with other materials. Some of the application of foam concrete as thermal insulation materials and future potential of natural fibre as additive in foam concrete in orde