Innovative Building Materials -Group 16

Sustainability and Innovative construction Article

Innovative Sustainable Materials

From the early period of time for constructions traditional building materials have been used ; such as concrete, wood and clay bricks. With the improvement from the time with new and different techniques and technology in order to have a better performance, quality, strength and environmental as well as economical benefits. Along with the improvement of traditional materials, new building materials have been produced.

“An innovative sustainable material is one which through the course of its life cycle, provide services to all generations in excess of that which they must put forth to implement it”.

Innovative sustainable materials are the major part in the development of building materials. It refers to the materials which are environmental friendly and resource – efficient throughout a building’s service life, from design to construction. They are used in order to reduce the overall impact on the natural environment.

Translucent concrete

Translucent concrete is a concrete with light-transmitting property due to uniform distribution of high numerical aperture plastic optical fibers throughout the concrete. It is made using fine concrete and optical fibers.

It can be applied on;  Floors,Load bearing walls, Facades , Partition walls,Interior wall cladding In furniture for aesthetic appearance. 







Translucent concrete is a innovative sustainable building material which can be used to save energy as well as provide a great and better aesthetic appearance. Along with the advantages several disadvantages can be identified in the material such as;

•        High cost due to usage of optical fiber for construction.
• .     Requirement of special/high skilled labours

1

Oriented Strand Board

Oriented Strand Board has been introduced recently which has been recognized by the construction fields in a short period of time. It is a versatile structural wood panel which is manufactured by rectangular wood strands arranged in cross-oriented layers.

There are four kinds of oriented strand boards depending from bending strength and moisture resistant such as;

    1. OSB – 1

2. OSB – 2

3.  OSB – 3

4.  OSB – 4

several advantages identified from  OSB such as:

•     After the construction no shrinkage is allowed.
•     Construction features do not make any restrictions on the design of the house
•     Price is low compared to traditional building materials.
•      Speed of construction is high.

    OSB is an innovative sustainable material as the production process is environmental friendly and reduces the emission of harmful factors into the environment.

    Carbon Fiber    

      carbon fiber is an advanced reinforcement material made up of strings of carbon woven together. It can be molded into any required shape which reduces the workload in a construction. It is an extremely strong and durable, light weighted material which can be used in constructions where high strength is required.

Many advantages can be gained from carbon fiber. Namely;

•  High strength
• Flexibility
• Durability
• Resistance to high temperature

But, the most important fact is that it is environmental friendly. Therefor it can be used to construct sustainable buildings to be durable in order to be usable for future generations.

 

Self - repairing cement

self repairing cement is one of the innovative building materials which have been introduced very recently. The mixture of this cement includes with microcapsules that release an epoxy resin which automatically repair any crack which is the significant ability of the material.

Comparing to the traditional materials, it is one of the innovative sustainable material which has solved the challenges and problems that conventional materials had to face, such as;

•  Pollution and resource usage from the manufacturing process of traditional cement.
• Deteriorating concrete structures
• Energy consumption of traditional concrete production.

Plywood material

Plywood is a wood-based panel, which has a very good mechanical strength. It is made from thin sheets of wood veneer and one of the most widely used wood products. Plywood can be used instead of ordinary wood because of its special properties like workability, flexibility, re-usability and resistance for cracking, shrinking and twisting.

Many advantages can be recognized from the plywood materials. Some of them are given below.

           1.      Wastage of wood is lower than ordinary wood products.

           2.      Strength is higher as the wood layers are situated across the grains.

           3.      Resistance for splitting.

           4.      Can be molded into different shapes and sizes.

           5.      Reduces shrinkage, swelling and warping.

                         

The most important fact about plywood is that it is a renewable natural resource. It has a long life period which ensures the availability for future generations.

     

CO2 Absorbing Concrete

Concrete is the most widely used material all over the world because of its strength and durability. Production process of cement requires energy which results generation of carbon dioxide to the environment. Therefore carbon dioxide absorbing concrete has been invented recently in order to reduce the emission of CO2 to the environment. Supplementary cementing material including waste products from other industries, such as fly ash and ground granulated blast furnance can be ground with clinker in order to reduce emission of green house gases and air pollution.

These materials also have the advantages of reducing energy consumption. Supplementary cementing material in concrete is one of the most sustainable construction material because it;

•  Reduce emission of greenhouse gases.       
• Reduce use of natural raw materials.
•   Increase the life time of the structure.
• Avoid disposal of industrial byproducts.

Reactive powder concrete

Reactive powder concrete is a building material which has been most recently also known as Ultra High Performance Concrete. The density of the concrete has been maximized through the utilization of a precise gradation of all particles in the mix.

Reactive powder concrete is a sustainable material as it is durable than standard concrete. With greater strength and density RPC is able to perform the same functions of standard concrete. Also, it has many advantages such as,

• Withstands corrosion effects on acid.
• Withstands penetration by radioactive particles.
• Low wastage from production.
• Structures can be reused.

 

Group members

Perera J.K.D.S.(162430N)
PereraP.A.L.P.(162431T)
Karunarathna T.A.D.C.D(162421M)
SenarathP.A.N.B.(162692R)
Sivasangeetha V.(162673K)