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Bricks with added wool and seaweed come out on top
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Brick constructions are generally considered to be less than green, but this might be about to change in the light of new research in Europe which has thrown added biomass into the equation. Teams working together at the Schools of Architecture at the University of Seville in Spain and the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland have created a new environmentally friendly building material that is stronger and uses less energy to make than its conventional counterpart.


The new blocks, which are reinforced by wool and seaweed, were developed during a push by the two universities to create more environmentally friendly building materials that would also mechanically improve upon more traditional ones.

“The objective was to produce bricks reinforced with wool and to obtain a composite that was more sustainable, non-toxic, using abundant local materials, and which would mechanically improve the bricks’ strength,” Carmen Galán and Carlos Rivera, authors of the study and researchers at the universities said about their invention. Wool and an alginate conglomerate from the cell walls of seaweed were mixed with clay to create the bricks. When dried — they don’t need to be fired, which cuts down on energy used in their production — the mixture seemed to make the bricks less prone to cracking and less likely to warp.

The study, which has been recently published in the journal Construction and Building Materials, was the result of close collaboration between the British and Spanish universities. The clay-based soils were provided by brick manufacturers in Scotland, which was also the source of the wool, since the local textile industry cannot use everything it produces. "The aim was to produce a material suitable for adverse climatic conditions, such as the specific ones in the United Kingdom," the authors explain.

The researchers studied the effect of reinforcing various soil types with sheep's wool, and arrived at several conclusions. "These fibres improve the strength of compressed bricks, reduce the formation of fissures and deformities as a result of contraction, reduce drying time and increase the bricks' resistance to flexion."

They also note that because of the materials used and the non-firing manufacturing process, “this is a more sustainable and healthy alternative to conventional building materials such as baked earth bricks and concrete blocks.”

"The objective was to produce bricks reinforced with wool and to obtain a composite that was more sustainable, non-toxic, using abundant local materials, and that would mechanically improve the bricks' strength," Carmen Galán and Carlos Rivera, said. The mechanical tests carried out showed the compound to be 37% stronger than other bricks made using unfired stabilised earth. According to the authors: "This is a more sustainable and healthy alternative to conventional building materials such as baked earth bricks and concrete blocks."

Untreated clay was one of the earliest building materials to be used by humankind. The oldest examples of this can be found in houses in the Near East dating from between 11,000 and 12,000 years ago. Earthy material mixed with plants and pebbles to make them stronger has also been found in certain archaeological deposits from 1400BCE in Sardinia (Italy). Currently the compound Hemcrete is gaining in popularity for green constructions, which is a mixture of finely chopped hemp fibre and lime.



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 Positive review of this story
  emmb 
21 Oct 2010, 5:04 PM 
 
Is the use of seaweed really green
I once collected bins of seaweed for my garden in my ignorance assuming the tiny buzzing jumping flea to be some kind of fly


When I got home I found to my dismay tiny shrimps all over the floor of the van and now have to wonder if the commercial market in seaweed is not posing a serious threat to coastal shrimp populations
 

   
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