The external thermal insulation composite system with foam ceramic insulation decoration integrated board: statics, mechanical properties, and artificial aging accelerated rate

Abstract

The energy renovation of residential stock has an important contribution to carbon reduction, and building insulation systems not only require good thermal performance, but also long-term performance and durability. In particular, glazed foam ceramics are often employed for external wall insulation systems. Although artificial accelerated aging tests are often conducted to study the durability of such kind of composites, experimental research on natural and artificial aging of foam ceramics is still at its early stage. In this work, the aging tests consisting of 80 hot-rain cycles and 8 months of natural aging were carried out on foam ceramics. Special attention was paid to their compressive strength, tensile strength, compressive modulus of elasticity, bonding tensile strength, and bonding shear strength. The results revealed that the compressive strength and tensile strength of foam ceramics were not significantly affected by aging. Moreover, the bonding shear strength between ceramics and adhesives has drastically increased, while that between adhesives and cement has dropped, indicating the damage risks of the interface. Besides, the acceleration rate of the bonding tensile aging strength of foamed ceramics was found to be 12.16, while that between adhesives and cement was 5.44. The findings of this research provide the innovative experimental data on the aging of foam ceramics, but also inspiration for further study of artificial aging acceleration rate.