The preparation and characterization of low-temperature foams based on the alkali activation of waste stone wool
Majda Pavlin, Barbara Horvat, Mark Češnovar, Vilma Ducman
Abstract
Waste mineral wool represents a huge amount of construction and demolition waste that is still not adequately returned into the value chain but needs to be landfilled. In the present study, waste stone wool (SW) was evaluated for the preparation of alkali-activated foams. For this purpose SW was milled and sieved below 63 μm, then the activator (sodium silicate) and different amounts of foaming agent (hydrogen peroxide, H2O2), varying between 1 wt% and 3 wt%, were added to the slurry and cured in moulds at an elevated temperature (70 °C) for three days. In this way, foamed, highly porous materials were obtained whose density and mechanical properties were influenced by the amount of foaming agent used. The densities obtained ranged between 1.4 and 0.5 g/cm3, with corresponding mechanical properties of between 12.6 and 1.5 MPa and total porosities in the range 37.8–78.6%, respectively. In the most porous samples with the total porosity of 78.6%, a thermal conductivity of 0.092 W/(m∙K) was confirmed. The study confirmed the suitability of waste mineral wool (in our case SW) as a precursor for alkali-activated foams with potential use in the construction sector or other industrial applications.