This article looks at the use of local materials for sustainable construction, focusing on a composite combining Sebikotane clay and ground Typha australis fibers. The study aims to overcome the limitations of clay, such as swelling and shrinkage, by incorporating natural fibers as stabilizers.
Particle size analysis reveals that Sebikotane clay, the base material studied, is made up of 48% clay, 10% silt, and 42% fine sand. Atterberg limit tests confirm significant plasticity, while tests carried out on clay-Typha composites with fiber incorporation rates varying from 0 to 8% show a compressive strength of between 1.38 and 2.07 MPa.
The addition of fibers significantly reduces volume shrinkage (up to 88.88% with 8% fibers) but is accompanied by an increase in loss on ignition, reaching 17.6% with 8% Typha.
Analysis of the results shows that to ensure optimum performance in construction, particularly in terms of mechanical strength and dimensional stability, it is advisable to limit the incorporation of Typha fibers to a maximum of 4%.
With the development of the wood industry for the needs of construction and furniture, the proliferation of waste thus produced poses serious environmental problems. An interesting avenue for mitigating or absorbing this nuisance would be to develop this substance in the form of a brick with an insulating effect in construction. The object of this study is to characterize the thermal properties of these bricks according to the water content and sawdust. Samples of different sawdust contents (from 0 to 0.33 kgsbkgar-1) with dimensions of 10x10x3 cm3 were produced. An asymmetric hot plane type device was used to measure the volume thermal capacity and the thermal conductivity as a function of the water content from 0 to a maximum value of 0.069 kgdmkgw-1. The profile of the experimental curves of the estimated parameters is in line with that of the theoretical models from the literature.