In this study, the strength characteristics of the expanded perlite aggregate, waste marble dust and tragacanth added cement based composite material were investigated. A composite construction material was prepared using expanded perlite aggregate with a particle size of 0-2 mm and 2-4 mm at the ratio of 10%, 30% and 50% by weight, waste marble powder produced by sieving through 0.25 mm sieve at the ratio of 10% and 20%, tragacanth at the ratio of 0%, 0.5% and %1 and CEMI 42.5 N type Portland cement. Density, compressive strength, abrasion loss, water absorption tests were performed on these prepared composite samples. It was seen that compressive strength and density values have decreased and abrasion loss and water absorption values have increased as expanded perlite particle size, expanded perlite ratio, tragacanth ratio have increased and waste marble powder ratio has decreased on the prepared samples.

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The dependence on energy is increasing in a growing population and a rapidly developing global world. Around 40% of the energy consumed is consumed in buildings. Building heating and cooling have boosted energy consumption and costs dramatically. As a consequence, in order to boost energy efficiency in buildings, it becomes inevitable to develop new construction materials with thermal insulation properties. Vermiculite, waste basalt powder, molten tragacanth, and cement-reinforced samples were produced for this purpose. Mechanical and thermal conductivity tests were performed on 48 samples produced at various rates. The findings of the experimentally measured thermal conductivity were modelled and compared with the outputs of the created artificial neural network. The Matlab software was used for modelling. The mechanical properties acquired experimentally using the Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) approach were used as an input, and the correlation of the samples with thermal conductivity was investigated. The findings obtained were consistent with one another, and the thermal conductivity values were predicted with an error ranging between 7.6701% and 0.0091%, and the ANN yielded successful results at a rate of 99%.

It has become inevitable for the countries to produce sustainable, green and environmentally friendly materials to provide thermal comfort in buildings, reduce energy costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and global warming effects. In this study, cost-effective eco-friendly construction materials with better thermal conductivity were produced by using alkaline activators (AA) such as sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) in combination with waste materials from a regional volcanic natural rock Diyarbakır Karacadağ Red Scoria (KS) and Karacadağ rice husk ash (RHA). First of all, Particle Size, XRF, XRD, TGA/DTA, SEM, and EDS analyses were performed to determine the characteristics of the raw materials. These raw materials were mixed in different rates to form mixtures. These rates were 65%, 60%, 55%, 55%, and 50% for clay, 30% (fixed) for KS, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% for RHA and 5%, 10%, and 15% for AA. Rectangular samples for mechanical tests and cylindrical samples for thermal tests were prepared and they were fired at 9500C. SEM, EDS and XRD analyses were performed on the fractured bricks after the compressive strength test. Bulk density, apparent porosity, water absorption, compressive strength, loss on ignition, thermal conductivity, and microstructures of the fired bricks were analysed. Experimental results showed that porosity, water absorption, loss on ignition increased, density but density, compressive strength, and thermal conductivity decreased as the rates of rice husk ash and NaOH+Na2SiO3 increased with Karacadağ scoria at a fixed rate. The addition of waste RHA, KS, and AA in the brick resulted in a significant increase in thermal performance by 0.263 W/mK compared to the control brick (1.043 W/mK), while the compressive strength decreased from 32.5 to 7.2 MPa. Even though the compressive strength decreased due to the micropores forming as a result of the addition of these materials in the brick, it was greater than 7MPa as stated in the literature. The findings of the present study indicated that the fired clay bricks produced are potential materials for building applications requiring an appropriate thermal insulation and mechanical strength as well as internal structural applications.

Porous clay bricks produced by adding 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% by weight of Basalt Cutting Waste (BCW) were manufactured by semi-dry pressing process. BCW (Karacadağ, Diyarbakir, Turkey) was added to brick raw material as an additive in order to increase porosity and strength. The chemical composition and thermal behaviors of raw materials were investigated and SEM analysis was performed. Brick mixes containing different proportions of BCW were formed and then fired at 900 and 1000° C for two hours. Porosity, water absorption, compressive strength, thermal conductivity and microstructure of the samples were examined. It was observed that the porosity ratios were increased by up to 34% with the addition of BCW, however, compressive strength (at least 28 MPa) decreased. However, the compressive strength was found to be higher than the required standards. The thermal conductivity of samples with the addition of 20% BCW decreased from 0.98 up to 0.72 W / mK compared to the reference sample, which also corresponds to a reduction of 26.5% in proportion to the reference sample along with the increase in porosity. The increase in firing temperature also affected the mechanical and physical properties of the samples. In conclusion, this study revealed that the brick samples produced could be evaluated and used as insulating materials by adding BCW to building materials in construction applications.