**Author details**

oxychloride cement without and with PVAc (5 μm). We see in these images the needle shaped crystals. These needles shaped crystals is the P5 (5Mg(OH)2.MgCl2.8H2O). We note that the incorporation of PVAc does not affect for the development of P5.

The objective of this work is to study the thermal properties of Sorel cement, which is a building material with promising performance. In order to determine the thermal properties of the cement, the photothermal deflection technique is used. The insulation properties of the SC were enhanced with the incorporation of PVAc. The thermal conductivities and thermal diffusivity of SC with PVAc are in a range

–0.18 10<sup>7</sup> m<sup>2</sup>

This chapter was supported by a grant from Ministry of Higher Scientific Research of Tunisia. The authors would like to thank the technical team of the

is obtained for 10% of PVAc so that a reduction of 50% of the thermal conductivity and 55% of the thermal diffusivity is obtained. Furthermore, the compressive strength of SC is notably influenced by the incorporation of PVAc and increases with decreasing PVAc percentages, the value of compressive strength vary from 64.88 to 23.07 MPa and achieves a reduction of up to 64% for 20% of PVAc. However, the thermal optimum reaches 55% reduction in compressive strength

/s, respectively. A thermal optimum

**7. Conclusion**

**Figure 10.**

of 0.45–0.9 W/m K and 0.4 10<sup>7</sup>

*Microstructure of SC5, SC10, SC15 and SC20.*

*Zero-Energy Buildings - New Approaches and Technologies*

**Acknowledgements**

**132**

(29.05 MPa) but retains good mechanical strength.

Rim Zgueb1 \*, Amal Brichni<sup>2</sup> and Noureddine Yacoubi<sup>1</sup>

1 Physics Mathematics Quantum Modeling and Mechanical Design, Preparatory Institute for Engineering Studies of Nabeul, Nabeul, Tunisia

2 Useful Material Valorization Laboratory, National Center for Research in Materials Sciences, Technopole Borj Cedria, Soliman, Tunisia

\*Address all correspondence to: rim.zgueb@fsb.u-carthage.tn

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
