Mechanical and thermal tests of an innovative environment-friendly hollow block as self-insulation wall materials

Nowadays, energy dissipation of buildings has caused serious problems to the environment for leading to overuse of resources in China. To reduce energy consumption and protect the environment, shale that widely distributed in China and the waste, including both building waste and industrial waste are used as raw materials to manufacture fired hollow blocks with 29-row holes which ensure the insulation properties and reduction of weight. As samples, 365 mm × 248 mm × 249 mm rectangular fire hollow blocks with density of 850 kg/m3 were produced to study the mechanical and thermal properties of this wall material. The results satisfied the relevant Chinese Standard, and the block has a high compressive strength and reliable insulation performance comparing with fired common brick or other hollow blocks. Because of the excellent self-insulation characteristics, the blocks could be used directly as wall materials without requiring the usage of special insulation measures in masonry structures, which mean that this new-type material could reduce the cost of housing construction and had broad application prospect in masonry structures. Therefore, using this block could not only cut down the consumption of energy, but also could ease the pressure applied on the environment.