Corn Starch-Based Sandstone Sustainable Materials: Sand Type and Water Content Effect on Their Structure and Mechanical Properties

Maria Zoumaki, Konstantinos Tsongas, Dimitrios Tzetzis and Gabriel Mansour
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Maria Zoumaki: Laboratory for Machine Tools and Manufacturing Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Konstantinos Tsongas: Laboratory for Machine Tools and Manufacturing Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece
Dimitrios Tzetzis: Digital Manufacturing and Materials Characterization Laboratory, School of Science and Technology, International Hellenic University, 57001 Thessaloniki, Greece
Gabriel Mansour: Laboratory for Machine Tools and Manufacturing Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 54124 Thessaloniki, Greece

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-16

Abstract: A new biodegradable, sustainable and environmentally friendly building material is introduced and studied in this work, which can be applied to lightweight architectural structures, aiming for the reduction of the greenhouse gas emissions and mitigation of the climate change effects. The focus was to investigate the effect of water concentration and different types of sand on the mechanical properties of corn starch-based artificial sandstone. A series of cubic, cylindrical and disk specimens were prepared by varying the concentration of water and using different sources of commercial quartz sand. The quasi-static and cyclic compressive properties of starch-based artificial sandstone samples were measured as a function of water concentration and sand type, while the structure of the artificial sandstone specimens was examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy. Moreover, the Brazilian Test was employed as the indirect method to determine the tensile strength of the samples based on the type of the commercial sand they contained. The experimental results showed that the homogeneous grading of sand grains and the latter’s chemical composition have a significant effect on the mechanical properties of the sandstone samples. The highest compression values were obtained using the microwave heating method at a water concentration of about 12 wt%, while the cyclic compression and Brazilian Tests have shown that the granulometric grading of the sand particles and the chemical composition of the sand influence the compressive and tensile strength of the material.

Keywords: maize starch; starch-based sandstone; artificial sandstone; mechanical properties; bio composite structure material (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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