Impact of the Accelerated Aging Protocols on the Hemp Concrete Durability

Hemp concrete has been widely recommended as bio-based material to limit carbon emissions and energy consumption of buildings. This material presents interesting hygrothermal and acoustic performances. It is produced of hemp particles embedded in a natural cement that forms a very heterogeneous and porous component. Few works have studied the evolution of the properties of hemp and flax concrete, over time. This research aims to study the evolution of the compressive strength, the microstructure and porosity of hemp concrete over the time. Thus, three accelerated aging protocols were conducted on the formulated hemp concrete before undertaken properties tracking experimentations. Results shows that compressive strength increases up to 58 days for hemp concrete. The hemp shiv deformation depending on the accelerated aging in hemp concrete is calculated by 2D image analysis. Optical investigation was used for this experimentation. Microscopic results confirm the high degradation of such heterogeneous materials which is confirmed by the porosity results.