Biosourced Insulating Mortar Pumpability and Curing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current construction compositions with biosourced plant aggregates/fillers face challenges such as high water absorption, leading to delayed curing, reduced mechanical strength, and vulnerability to microorganisms, making them unsuitable for wet application methods like spraying, which requires pumpability and rapid setting without compromising thermal insulation properties.
Innovation Solution
A dry mortar composition comprising a binder with lime and/or alumina sources, a water-retaining agent, and biosourced plant fillers, optimized for pumpability and rapid setting, allowing for wet-spray application while maintaining low thermal conductivity and durability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If plant aggregates/fillers with high water absorption capacity are used, then thermal insulation properties are improved, but drying time is extended and curing is delayed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the water/binder ratio parameter to a specific range (0.25-0.40) to optimize the balance between water availability for binder hydration and water absorption by plant aggregates. This parameter optimization ensures sufficient water for curing while limiting excess water that would extend drying time, thereby resolving the contradiction between thermal insulation performance and drying time.
2Temperature
If plant aggregates/fillers with high water absorption capacity are used, then thermal insulation properties are improved, but mechanical strength is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the water/binder ratio to a specific range (0.25-0.40) to ensure sufficient water is available for binder hydration and curing, preventing the mechanical strength reduction that would otherwise occur with highly absorbent plant aggregates. This parameter control allows the use of plant aggregates for thermal insulation while maintaining adequate mechanical strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite material system combining plant aggregates with a specifically formulated binder system that includes hydraulic binder, air lime, and water-retaining agents. This composite approach allows the plant aggregates to provide thermal insulation while the optimized binder system ensures proper hydration and curing, maintaining mechanical strength despite the high water absorption capacity of the plant aggregates.
3Temperature
If plant aggregates/fillers with high water absorption capacity are used, then thermal insulation properties are improved, but durability is affected
Solution Approach 1:
The patent controls the water/binder ratio within a specific range (0.25-0.40) to ensure complete hydration of the binder system, which is critical for developing durable hardened compositions. This parameter optimization prevents the durability issues that would otherwise result from insufficient water for proper binder curing when using highly absorbent plant aggregates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a composite binder system comprising hydraulic binder, air lime, and water-retaining agents that work together to ensure complete hydration and proper curing. This composite approach maintains durability by ensuring sufficient water availability for binder hydration while still allowing the use of plant aggregates for thermal insulation.
4Temperature
If plant aggregates/fillers with high water absorption capacity are used, then thermal insulation properties are improved, but susceptibility to microorganism development increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes the water/binder ratio to ensure complete and rapid binder hydration, which reduces the time that excess water is available to support microorganism growth. This parameter control limits the window for microorganism development while still providing sufficient water for binder curing, thereby maintaining thermal insulation performance while reducing susceptibility to microorganism attack.
5Productivity
If wet application by spraying is used, then application efficiency is improved, but pumpability is compromised due to water absorption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent controls the water/binder ratio within a specific range (0.25-0.40) to ensure the mixture has sufficient water for workability and pumpability while preventing excessive water that would be rapidly absorbed by plant aggregates. This parameter optimization maintains the flow and pumping characteristics needed for spray application, enabling efficient wet application by spraying despite the use of highly absorbent plant aggregates.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs a composite binder system including water-retaining agents that help maintain water availability in the mixture, ensuring proper pumpability and sprayability. This composite approach allows the mixture to be pumped and sprayed efficiently while the plant aggregates provide thermal insulation, resolving the contradiction between application efficiency and pumpability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The composition enables the production of insulating mortars with rapid hardening, durable mechanical performance, and homogenous application, suitable for vertical and horizontal surfaces, with thermal conductivity below 0.1 W/m·K, and meets the requirements for ETAG 004 standard.
Implementation Method 1
a binder, itself comprising: at least one primary binder comprising lime and/or at least one alumina source and/or at least one calcium sulphate source; at least one water-retaining agent
Implementation Method 2
at least one primary binder comprising lime and/or at least one alumina source and/or at least one calcium sulphate source
Data Source
AI summary
A dry construction composition is easily wet-sprayable by means of a screw pump, thus forming, after hardening, a durably mechanically resistant insulating material (λ<0.1 W·m−1·K−1). The composition contains: —A— at least one binder, itself including: —A1— at least one main binder containing lime and/or at least one alumina source and/or at least one calcium sulfate source, preferably at least one alumina source, —A2— at least one water-retaining agent, and —A3— preferably at least one surfactant; and —B— at least one biosourced filler, preferably of plant origin. The ratio B/A (liters/kg) is between 2 and 9. The composition is intended to be mixed with water in a water/binder ratio —A— of no lower than 0.8. Also disclosed is a wet composition, the preparation thereof, to the binder —A— taken in isolation, and to a method of spraying the composition onto a horizontal or vertical substrate or by molding.