Property evaluation of basalt fibre-reinforced sawdust mortar

Global warming has led to a tremendous rise in the atmospheric temperature. This results in increasing usage of air conditioning which leads to a large amount of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. An apparent solution to tackle this complication is to incorporate sustainable panels in buildings to reduce energy usage. This study focuses on utilizing industrial waste sawdust and producing eco-friendly and sustainable insulation blocks. Sawdust mortar was created by adding sawdust to the conventional mortar mix. After experimenting with numerous mix proportions, finally, sand was replaced by sawdust with respect to volume in the ratios of 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20%. Basalt fibres were added to the optimum sawdust mortar mix to compensate for the limitations caused due to the addition of sawdust. Improvement in the mechanical, functional and durability properties were observed after the addition of fibres. To comprehend the thermal properties of the specimen, analysis using COMSOL Multiphysics was performed. The study revealed that sawdust and basalt fibre help to reduce the thermal conductivity in the samples. To understand the environmental impact of the materials, a life cycle analysis was carried out in SimaPro. It was found that the impact of sawdust and basalt fibre on the ecosystem and human health was negligible. Hence, basalt-induced sawdust mortar is proven to be a promising technology for the production of green and sustainable insulation panels.