Experimental Investigation on Mechanical and Acoustic Performance of Miscanthus - Lime Composites

The environmental burdens attributable to buildings remain relatively high. The built environment is responsible for more than one-third of the global energy consumption and nearly 40% of global CO2 emissions. In the context of increasing the sustainability of the built environment, bio-based building materials have gained a growing interest for their application in building envelopes. Miscanthus giganteus (elephant grass) is a perennial, cost effective and sustainable source of fibres for the development of bio-composites. This experimental study evaluates mechanical and acoustic properties of miscanthus - lime composites for their potential use in renovations and new-build houses, in South West England. The impact of binder to aggregate mass ratio and density on compressive strength is investigated. Moreover, the effect of aggregate particle size on the acoustic performance of miscanthus - lime composites is presented. It is shown that the initial fresh density has little effect on compressive strength compared with that of binder content. The acoustic tests results show that the use of small size particles improves the acoustic performance of miscanthus - lime composites with recorded high transmission loss and sound absorption coefficient values.