Experimental Investigations of the Effect of Some Insulating Materials on the Compressive Strength, Water Absorption and Thermal Conductivity of Building Bricks

An experimental investigation was carried out to study the possibility of decreasing the consumed energy in buildings in Jordan by decreasing the thermal conductivity of building bricks. Insulation materials with different weight percentages are mixed with the traditional materials of the building bricks used in Jordan. The used materials were polystyrene, polycarbonate, polyethylene of (2.5, 5, 10 15wt %), wood dust and natural cork of (1, 2, 3, 4 wt %), glass wool and rock wool layer of ( 24, 36, 48 and 60 gm). The water absorption, compressive strength and thermal conductivity, of the prepared bricks were determined and the obtained results are discussed and compared. The results showed that addition of the insulating materials resulted in reduction of water absorption in the entire materials examined (a minimum of -4.14% for glass wool addition) except natural cork and wood dust (a maximum of +207.62% of natural cork addition).The results also indicated a decrease in the compressive strength as much as (90.71 %) for both glass wool and natural cork additions. A pronounced decrease in thermal conductivity was also noticed of about 70 % of its value for the case of glass wool and natural cork additions, at addition rate of 4% weight