Characterization of new insulators for architectural envelopes with non-traditional materials

Abstract

This work deepens into the need to study synergies between fundamental criteria for sustainable development in construction: environmental, socio-economic and techno-scientific. According with this, the sustainability of an envelope based on the Sistema Constructivo 3C is characterized, which is self-constructed and uses recycled plastic bottles. This system has a light wooden framework structure that uses a pile of compacted polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles inside and two faces, one inside and other outside, with a coating made with traditional cement plaster. In order to consider the social benefit for the development of the Sistema Constructivo 3C, criteria of techno-scientific, environmental and social were used. This system showed high thermal performance in insulation and fire resistance compared to other systems based on traditional materials. A positive synergistic effect was observed between the air and the plastic bottles that allowed increasing thermal performance of the construction system. The air between the bottles decreases the thermal conductivity and the thermal transmittance of the construction system. Besides, the bottles compacted in the core system reduced the flame spread. These beneficial synergies by the use of non-traditional materials could be explored and enhanced according to the thermal properties offered by other non-traditional materials. The implementation of strategies to reuse PET bottles by mechanical means without the use of energy, it exposes the potential of these non-traditional materials for: their use in construction, the development of local resources and capacities, and the promotion of circular economy. The characterization of the construction system presented in this work contributed to generating a manual that, as a work protocol, allowed it to be traced, establishing guidelines for waste management and its subsequent implementation. This manual will allow the training of human resources both for the production of plastic piles and to participate in some process of the construction of the houses