I-Foam

The aim of the project is to develop a very lightweight foamed concrete that can be used as a mineral, non-combustible, environmentally friendly insulating material and thus contribute to optimizing ecology, energy efficiency and economy in the construction industry. In contrast to other mineral foam materials, the innovative material should be able to be produced under ambient temperature and pressure on the construction site or in the factory using an ecological foaming agent consisting of lipids, so-called rhamnolipids, and a cement paste mixture consisting of cement, hydroxylapatite, metakaolin and other mineral components.

The use of rhamnolipids as foaming agents differs from common protein-based foaming agents. As a result, the foamed concrete is not susceptible to harmful mold growth, and because the foam is non-combustible, it also provides increased fire protection. In order to obtain a material with a desired insulating effect, this project aims to develop and optimize an innovative foamed concrete with a very low bulk density of <200 kg/m3 and an associated low thermal conductivity of <0.035 W/(mK) with sufficient mechanical strength.

Due to its significant advantages over other thermal insulation materials (low cost, non-combustible, environmentally friendly, not susceptible to mold, etc.), the innovative foamed concrete opens up a wide range of new applications. The aim here is to consistently replace conventional insulating materials, which in turn requires foam concrete to be adapted to the specific requirement profiles of the various building component constructions. Both in new buildings and in the energy-related refurbishment of existing buildings, this opens up extensive application potential for sustainable thermal insulation with the innovative foamed concrete. Various foamed concretes with task-specific properties are therefore to be developed for broad application in different exterior wall and roof structures, and their manufacturing processes optimized accordingly.