Robert,
It sounds to me like you're on the right track.
I would suggest starting out with a basic papercrete mix. In fact, I
encourage you to mix up a test sample of pure papercrete without any
rice hulls to use as a baseline comparison.
I'm wondering if your rice hulls MIGHT COMPARE with gin trash that
has been used by a few of our members. I would encourage you to
search our archives for "gin trash" and look at some of those
recipes. I know Curtis (dbigkahunna) has used gin trash. If you
don't find his recipe in our archives, I'm sure he'll be glad to
share.
Of course I could be completely wrong and rice hulls might present a
completely different scenario than gin trash. I'm just guessing.
I suspect that there will be a maximum ratio of rice hulls to paper
that will be stable and strong enough to be effective. Then you'll
want to incorporate enough total mineral content and cement to fit
your needs. In your climate you probably want to consider using
borax in the mix.
It is also important to consider what your end goals are. How do you
plan on using the end product? What are your expectations? Are you
wanting to maximize insulation? Compressive strength? Fire
resistance? Mold resistance? Economics? Some of these
characteristics trade off for each other.
If you're planning on building a 50 story sky-scraper in a swampy
rice patty, I don't think any form of papercrete makes sense as a
primary structural member hehehe.
Drying the sample blocks shouldn't be too difficult. You should be
able to find some sheltered area indoors, or under a roof somewhere.
Obviouisly the higher the humidity, the longer the drying times. Try
not to handle the wet samples too much. The more you handle them
before they get completely dry the more you will damage them. Fresh
wet papercrete is very fragile.
For a production environment drying would be a bigger problem.
Ideally there is a dry season when the bulk of your block making can
occur. You might want to consider building some kind of a solar
heated dryer. I've looked at solar heated wood kilns as inspiration
for such things.
Take your time and learn what this material is capable of before
trying to build with it. Papercrete generally does not like wet
environments. It will be important to design a structures that keep
the papercrete dry. Remember that papercrete is a wood product.
Hope this helps.
--- In papercreters@yahoogroups.com, "Robert Deutsch"
<robdeutsch@...> wrote:
>
> Dear S. Guy,
>
> Thanks for the suggestions. I plan on trying some tests during the
national holiday here next Wednesday. I was thinking on making
small test panels 30cm x 30cm x 5 cm (12" x 12" x 2"). Maybe 3
different cement/paper ratios and each of these with 3 different rice
hull dosages. Does that sound appropriate? What should the drying
conditions be? It's still rainy season here and I was thinking to
make the blocks in a open shed we have... do we need direct sun light
for drying?
>
> Do you think the rice hulls should soak before testing? They are
pretty crunchy and crispy things, should give lite weight blocks.
Would Calcium Chloride in the soak water help? The CaCL is sometimes
used in making woodwool/cement panels to help the cement bond with
the wood.
>
> On a side note, I saw a house made from peanut shell/cement blocks
some years ago in Indonesia.... but no details of construction were
available at the time of my visit. We tried coconut fibre/cement
panels here once, but the results were not so good and the group I
was working with got discouraged too quickly before we could get the
bugs out.
>
> I also researched the rice hull ash thing some years ago.
Apparently it's very important to control the burn temp so that the
crystal structure is not melted. Then the ash should be ball milled
to such and such microns to get maximum pozzolanic action.
>
> I have been looking for several years, but no baling machine here
in Cambodia. Thought about building a hand baler, but I sort of
doubt the results will be satisfactory for bail stacking. Anyway,
rice straw is already used for animal feed during dry season here,
everyone in the countryside has a old fashion hay stack in front of
their house.
>
> Looking forward to more feedback,
>
> Robert-
>
>
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