Mejoramiento de bloques de adobe con fibras de cabuya y aceite de linaza

Abstract

Nowadays, people’s concern about the planet’s contamination and the vast carbon footprint that the construction business generates every day is evident. These factors create a growing concern that day after day generates conscientiousness supported on different studies to mitigate global contamination with the carbon footprint. Human has used adobe throughout the history. It is an ancient construction element that counts with chemical and thermal properties that give the constructions adaptability to the environment and comfort to the people who live there. It also uses accessible materials mainly for the people living in the rural sectors due to their low cost. In Ecuador is a construction technique that remains mainly in the north of the country. However, by using soil as raw material, these elements present some weaknesses, such as low mechanical capacity and low water resistance. All of these defects reflect a limited architectural design capacity. This condition forces to seek alternative process to overcome those weaknesses in the construction material and get a growth of the properties and benefits of the adobe. The proposed adobe replaces the typical straw with Cabuya fiber. This material improves cohesion, provides more compression and flexibility resistance and reduces adobe retraction. Additionally, the use of linseed oil is proposed, a natural material, friendly to the environment that contributes to reducing the porosity of adobe, improving water resistance and mechanical resistance