PHYSICAL AND THERMOMECHANICAL CHARACTERISATION OF MONT-ROLLAND LATERITE AND WOOD CHIPS MIXTURES STABILISED WITH PORTLAND CEMENT

The use of local materials, particularly laterite, is one of the most effective ways to reduce construction costs. When combined with waste materials such as wood chips, these materials also offer significant potential for improving thermal comfort in buildings. The aim of this article is to develop composites based on laterite, wood chips and a small amount of cement. These composites incorporate a fixed proportion of wood chips (5% by mass of the dry mixture), while the cement content varies between 0% and 8% by mass. Physical, mechanical and thermal tests were carried out on the different samples. The results obtained indicate that, although these composites are somewhat vulnerable to water, they offer sufficient mechanical strength to be used as infill elements in non-load-bearing walls. More specifically, composites containing 2% and 8% cement respectively have compressive strengths of 1.181 MPa and 0.765 MPa, which is approximately 25 and 16 times higher than the minimum values required for their use as non-load-bearing walls (0.0460 MPa and 0.0475 MPa).