Thermal characterization of materials based on clay and granular: cork or expanded perlite

For the purpose of resisting to the hard climatic condition and so as to improve the insulation of building material in the Ben Smim Ifrane region, we proceeded in this work to develop local materials, clay is a building material very used in walls or floor in this region. The goal consists to improve the thermal properties of clay bounded with granular cork and compared with the thermal properties of the same clay with expanded perlite. The first step in this study is the chemical characterization of the clay by means of X-ray diffraction. The results show that the clay sample is mainly made up of Illite/ muscovite which is a non-swelling clay. The second step is the thermal characterization of clay bounded with cork or expanded perlite by using the methods: Hot plate and Flash. Then a comparison of their densities and thermal properties was done in both cases: air dried and heated. Finally a Comparison of the energy saving was done to determine the best materials in order to manufacture hill bricks done from clay-cork or clay-expanded. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.