Impact of phase change materials on lightened earth hygroscopic, thermal and mechanical properties

Climate change is leading construction engineers and building stakeholders to improve materials thermal insulation and heat storage capacity. The development of energy efficient building materials with a low environmental impact is a real challenge. In this sense, earth-based materials are known worldwide and have been used since thousands of years. These materials present many advantages but their deployment on a large scale, while respecting the operative standards, is still limited. Considering lightened earth, present work aims to improve their thermal properties by using phase change materials (PCM). The incorporation of PCM in construction materials has aroused great interest due to their capacity to store thermal energy. In present study, mechanical, hygrometric and thermal experimental studies were carried out on soil-fiber-PCM mixtures. The PCM incorporation showed an interesting improvement of the lightened earth thermal properties and a deterioration of the hygrometric properties while keeping their mechanical properties relatively unchanged. [Display omitted] •Introduction of phase change materials (PCM) into lightened earth.•Improvement of lightened earth thermal properties with PCMs.•Degradation of lightened earth hygroscopic properties with PCMs.•Addition of PCM has no significant effect on lightened earth mechanical strength.