Physicomechanical properties of composite tiles produced from granite dusts and municipal wastes

The present economic use of wastes all over the world is to reduce the environmental pollution through waste recycling. This research sought to produce and study alternative form of recycling tree pruning and bamboo waste as partial substitute materials for granite dust in composite tiles. Composite tiles of 190x98 mm were produced from various ratios of granite dust, tree pruning and bamboo wastes using cement as a binder. The density, water absorption, flexural strength and compressive strength analyses were carried out on the composite tiles following different ISO standards. Thermal conductivity was done using an Armfield computer compatible linear heat conduction tester. The density and water absorption capacity of the composite tiles ranges from 0.70 to 1.89 g/cm(3) and 8.25 to 97.71%, respectively. The results of this study also showed that the partial substitution of tree pruning and bamboo wastes for granite dust lowered the flexural and compressive strength of the composite tiles. The maximum flexural (1.53 MPa) and compressive strength (1.12 MPa) obtained were from sample produced from 70% granite and 10% tree pruning with 20% cement. The composite tiles have relatively low thermal conductivity that ranges from 0.02197 to 0.02213 W/m K. This makes it a suitable candidate for low load-bearing insulating construction material.