Influence of Pozzolans and Hemp Shives on the Properties of Non-Autoclaved Foamed Concrete

In this study, new foam concretes incorporating hemp shives without the use of autoclaving have been developed and studied. Several protocols and parameters were investigated. Firstly, the influence of the addition of pozzolanic additives on the resulting density, mechanical behaviour and thermal conductivity was examined. Secondly, the effects of the incorporation of hemp shives at 5, 10 and 15 vol% on the previous three properties in such concretes were investigated. Moreover, economic cost and CO₂ emissions were estimated to outline an optimized formulation of non-autoclaved biobased foam concretes. First, the target characteristics in terms of compressive strength (minimum of 2 MPa), thermal conductivity (less than 0.2 Wm^-1K^-1) and density (800 kg/m³) were achieved. It was noted that pozzolanic additions slightly improved the mechanical and thermal strength of non-autoclaved foamed concrete, while the addition of hemp shives improved the thermal strength but had an unfavourable effect on the mechanical strength. Moreover, both reduced the CO₂ emissions.