#lattice

Credit: De Montfort University Leicester 

By Idha Valeur 

By using domestic waste plastic such as coffee cup lids and plastic bottles to create a new style of bricks, researchers from De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) proved a plastic waste brick could improve insulation by 10 times compared with traditional ones.

The university’s Senior Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering, Dr Karthikeyan Kandan explained that the inspiration came from nature, specifically from the nest of the Baya weaver – a bird found in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia in general.

‘The Baya weaver bird’s nest’s ingenious construction gives it excellent thermal insulation and mechanical properties for inhabitation,’ Kandan said in a university release.

‘Inside there is a central nesting chamber, which makes it the ideal micro-climate for inhabitation. By replicating this structure, we have manufactured a brick that improves energy efficiency of modern buildings and therefore can reduce carbon footprint.’

The brick is 3D-printed and uses lattice architecture technologies, this include criss-cross strips of the plastic over each other to form a grid-esque structure in the brick.

To test the brick, DMU PhD Student, Saad Alqahtani, used a hot-box calorimeter to measure the brick’s U-value, a measure of the heat flow through insulating and building materials. A lower value means better insulation properties.

The bog-standard clay brick has a U-value of 2.94 Watts per Metre Kelvin (W/m²K), while Kandan’s new waste brick showed a value of 0.25 W/m²K.

‘This provides significant potential to not only improve the energy efficiency of modern building, but also to conserve space and reduce dead-weight in multi-story buildings,’ Kandan said.

We’ve launched our third series of modern party decor! Take a peek, fall in love and host your next party with our Lattice suite! Add as many matching items your budget can carry & don’t forget to include the matching invitations!

Watch over us.