USING DIATOMITE AS PADDING MATERIAL IN WATER PROOFING MEMBRANES

Water entering into insulating membranes causes a threat to their structure in terms of their strength. Water entering the building structure disturbs the system. Corrosion of the carrier portion is considered as important and it causes a decrease of the load carrying capacity. Water in the structure of building integrity of concrete, freezes in winter, and it evaporates in summer and leads to formation of cracks in the concrete. Water enters the concrete skeleton leads to the formation of some organic materials, mold and fungi which are dangerous for the human health. In this research, two types of water resistance membranes were compared according to their performance. The membranes can be produced with diatomite and calcite. Diatomite is a building material which has a higher chemical stability and is lighter than calcite. It will be more advantages over conventional calcite because it has a high strength and melting temperature as 1430 °C. Artificial aging and waterproofing resistance against chemicals were tried in the experimental tests. Diatomite provided a lighter weight to the membrane module. The 3 mm thickness of the membrane has lower mass (35 kg) compared to calcite membrane (40 kg). After the chemical resistance against water resistance test, the diatomite-filled prototype sample yielded a higher water resistance to the pressure of 60 kPa. However, the calcite-filled prototype yielded until 20 kPa water resistance and lost its waterproofing properties in low pressures values. This is because the calcite can expose to hydrochloric acid, sulfuric acid, acetic acid, and nitric acids which used in the production of membrane and they enter the micro pores of calcite and changes its properties. This is why membrane made by diatomite instead of calcite. The pressure-strength has increased by adding diatomite to the structure. Water resistance test after artificial extensibility resulted in significant differences in two prototype membrane modules.