• Ottosen, Lisbeth M.
• Belmonte, Louise Josefine
• Bertelsen, Ida Maria Gieysztor

Abstract

Every year, glacial rivers in Greenland transport and deposit vast quantities of fine-grained rock material (GP). In the present study we characterise this raw material (GP) and evaluate whether it is possible to produce adobe bricks for a local production in an Arctic region such as Greenland. The raw material characterization included determination of the grain size distribution and the plastic properties. For enabling the production of adobe bricks, it was, based on these tested parameters, found necessary to add a fraction of a coarser gravel-size material (KG) in addition to the fine-grained rock material (GP). Small-scale prisms and cylinders for determination of the drying shrinkage behaviour and the mechanical performance of the composite material were produced containing 50/50 of GP and KG, respectively. Adobe bricks are often reinforced with fibres of natural or synthetic materials to improve the ductility of the composites, such as for example straw, however, in Arctic regions such materials are often a scares resource due to the existing type of vegetation. Therefore, we instead added fibres from discarded polyethylene fishing nets, which is a local waste material often present in coastal towns in Greenland. The addition of fibres from waste fishing nets to the adobe specimens resulted in enhanced drying shrinkage behaviour, post-crack performance and toughness for prisms when exposed to flexural loads.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• polymer
• grain
• grain size
• crack
• composite
• ductility
• drying