2025, Volume 71(75), Issue 4 (December), pp. 117 - 129

Light Cellular Gypsum-Based Material for Construction Applications

LUCIAN PĂUNESCU, National University of Science and Technology “Politehnica”, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, Research Center for Environmental Protection and Eco-Friendly Technologies, Bucharest, Romania, lucianpaunescu16@gmail.com
ENIKÖ VOLCEANOV, National University of Science and Technology “Politehnica”, Faculty of Engineering in Foreign Language, Bucharest, Romania
ADRIAN IOANA, National University of Science and Technology “Politehnica”, Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Bucharest, Romania
SORIN MIRCEA AXINTE, National University of Science and Technology “Politehnica”, Faculty of Applied Chemistry and Materials Science, Bucharest, Romania; Daily Sourcing & Research SRL, Bucharest, Romania
BOGDAN VALENTIN PĂUNESCU, Consitrans SA, Bucharest, Romania

pages 117 - 129   Download
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19660611

Abstract
The procedure of preparing a light gypsum-based material using aluminium powder activated in aqueous Ca(OH)₂ solution was tested in this work. The aluminium was recycled from post-consumer soft drink packaging waste, melted under the action of microwaves and atomized into very fine particles by direct contact with concentrated nitrogen jets. Except for calcined gypsum as the main raw material, other additive materials were used: coal ash, vermiculite, polypropylene fibres, polystyrene beads, silica fume, and carboxymethyl cellulose. The process took place at room temperature. The obtained product had good thermal insulation properties (density between 527-595 kg·m^-3 and heat conductivity in the range of 0.147-0.180 W·m^-1·K^-1) as well as satisfactory compression strength (between 1.2-2.0 MPa).
Keywords: gypsum, aluminium, Ca(OH)₂ solution, microwave, vermiculite.