Thermal insulation properties of pumice concrete: effect of porous aggregate containing coal gangue and fly ash

R. Feng; C. Yan; X. Wang; L. Jing; L. Yin; S. Liu; J. Zhang; W. Jing

doi:10.3989/mc.2025.386724

Authors

R. Feng College of Science, Inner Mongolia University of Technology https://orcid.org/0009-0009-7810-3732
C. Yan School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7554-1782
X. Wang School of Civil Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology https://orcid.org/0009-0002-9429-3053
L. Jing School of Civil Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1299-2721
L. Yin School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8685-8643
S. Liu School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8523-8741
J. Zhang School of Civil Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1947-1772
W. Jing School of Civil Engineering, Inner Mongolia University of Technology https://orcid.org/0009-0001-3910-1103

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/mc.2025.386724

Keywords:

Coal gangue, Fly ash, Natural pumice concrete, Thermal conductivity, Pore structure

Abstract

Coal gangue (CG) and fly ash (FA) were utilized to prepare CG-FA aggregate (CFA). The CFA concrete (CFAC) was produced by replacing natural pumice aggregate (NPA) with CFA. The optimal calcination parameters of CFA were obtained by orthogonal test with thermal conductivity (TC) as evaluation criterion. The TC, pore structure and micromorphology were tested to characterize thermal insulation properties. Results showed that the optimal calcination parameters for preparing CFA were a preheating temperature of 500 °C for 20 min and a calcination temperature of 1000°C for 10 min. The TC for CFAC decreases by 24.31% with 100% CFA. Filling pores with hydration products leads to a transition from macropores (>1 μm) to transition pores (0.01–0.1 μm) and capillary pores (0.1–1 μm), which complicates the heat transfer path and delays the heat transfer time.

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