Hemihydrate, lime, and natural pozzolan have been used, individually or in binary mixtures, as stabilizers in vernacular architecture. Nowadays, however, earth stabilization is usually done with Portland cement at a high environmental cost. In this paper, we revisit vernacular stabilizers by investigating the hydration mechanisms of a ternary binder made of natural pozzolan (trass), lime, and gypsum. Aiming at developing a binder formulation suitable for earth stabilization, we show that enhanced compressive strength and minimum carbon footprint can be obtained when we tackle the hydration reactions and maximize the fraction of low-carbon materials.

Proceedings of 18th International Conference on Non-conventional Materials and Technologies (NOCMAT 2022)