A method of making a structural lightweight and thermal insulating concrete is described. The concrete has a coarse aggregate partly replaced by recycled plastic pieces. This enables the concrete to maintain a high compressive strength, low thermal conductivity, and low weight, while providing a use for waste plastic. The waste plastic pieces may comprise polyethylene in the form of flakes, fibers, or granules. Due to its low unit weight, adequate compressive strength and high thermal resistance the developed concrete can be used as a structural lightweight and thermal insulating concrete. The use of this concrete leads to economic and environmental benefits.

An ultra-stable structural laminate with fire resistance and a lateral nail pull strength from 44 to 300 pounds of force and an insulation R value from 1 to 40, the ultra-stable structural laminate of a cementious material with a nano-molecular veneer and a foam component catalytically reacted into an expanded closed cell foam having a thickness from .sup.th inch to 8 inches, a density from 1.5 pounds/cubic foot to 3 pounds/cubic foot that self-adheres to the cementitious material forming an ultra-stable structural laminate with fire resistance and a lateral nail pull strength from 44 pounds to 300 pounds of force, an insulation R value from 1 to 40, a resistance to seismic impact for earthquakes over 3.1 on the Richter Scale, a break point from 7 lbs/inch to 100 lbs/inch; and a resistance to wind shear equivalent to a 15 mph downburst.

A method of making a structural lightweight and thermal insulating concrete is described. The concrete has a coarse aggregate partly replaced by recycled plastic pieces. This enables the concrete to maintain a high compressive strength, low thermal conductivity, and low weight, while providing a use for waste plastic. The waste plastic pieces may comprise polyethylene in the form of flakes, fibers, or granules. Due to its low unit weight, adequate compressive strength and high thermal resistance the developed concrete can be used as a structural lightweight and thermal insulating concrete. The use of this concrete leads to economic and environmental benefits.

A method for manufacturing a honeycomb structure includes a tubular circumferential wall and partition walls forming a honeycomb-shaped cross-section and defining a plurality of cells extending inside the circumferential wall in the axial direction of the circumferential wall. The method includes a molding process, a degreasing process, and an impregnation process. The molding process molds a mixture including ceramic particles, an organic binder, and a dispersion medium to obtain a molded body. The degreasing process removes the organic binder included in the molded body to obtain a degreased body. The impregnation process impregnates the inside of the circumferential wall and the partition walls of the degreased body with metal silicon. The impregnation process is performed under an inert gas atmosphere or a vacuum at a temperature between 1400 C. and 1900 C.

Multifunctional composite building materials, which are obtained by mixing nano silicon dioxide, nano titanium dioxide, nano aluminum oxide and nano zinc oxide with nano nickel-cobalt ferrite or nano nickel-zinc ferrite; surface active agent; air entrained agent such as diethanolamine lauryl sulphonate, protein extracts, pulp waste liquid, diatomite; kumgang medical stone; viscosifier such as hydroxyl ethyl cellulose and foam elimination agent such as tributylphosphoric acid ester or butanol in a certain ratio.

A method for producing a thermally insulating mortar includes introducing water, cement and a liquid surfactant containing a foam concentrate that forms a foam in a predetermined mixing ratio into a mixing device provided with a mixing impeller, and rotating the mixing impeller at a very high speed, wherein a homogeneous mixing between the water, the cement and the formed foam occurs.

A heat insulating material includes an aerogel that has macro-pores and meso-pores. A method for manufacturing a heat insulating material, including: a sol preparation step of adding a gelling agent into sodium silicate such that a molar ratio of the gelling agent relative to NaO.sub.2 is 0.1 to 0.75, and adjusting a sol into which macro-pores are introduced by leaving unreacted Na and non-cross-linked oxygen in a siloxane skeleton; an impregnating and gelling step of impregnating a nonwoven fabric fiber structure with the sol to form a composite of hydrogel-nonwoven fabric fiber; a hydrophobizating step of mixing the formed composite of hydrogel-nonwoven fabric fiber with a silylating agent to modify a surface thereof; and a drying step of removing a liquid contained in the surface modified composite of hydrogel-nonwoven fabric fiber by drying under a temperature and pressure lower than respective critical values.

A lightweight structural concrete formulation comprises a wet mix of about 460 kg/m.sup.3 of cementitious material such as ordinary Portland cement of which about 50 percent has been replaced by ground granulated basic furnace slag (GGBFS) and 7 percent by silica fume (SF) in other words the mix introduces between about 178 and 228 kg/m.sup.3 therefore the combination is good to produce secondary reaction products when the cement hydrates which produces secondary calcium silicate hydrate (CSH) which makes the structure dense and thereby increases its mechanical durability characteristics of the concrete product. Possible ratios of GGBFS and SF are 30-70 percent and 5-10 percent, respectively. By making the structures dense increases the mechanical and durability characteristics of the concrete product. Other ratios have been made including GGBFS of 30-70 percent and silica fume 5-10 percent, respectively. It can be noted that the silica fume was added to the mixture as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM) not as an aggregate. It should also be noted that the particle sizes of GGBFS ranges between about 20-40 mm and that of silica fume is less than 20 mm.

A heat insulating member includes a heat insulating layer containing: a porous structure that has a plurality of particles connected to form a skeleton, has pores in an inside, and has a hydrophobic site on at least a surface between the surface and the inside; infrared shielding particles; and inorganic fibers, the heat insulating layer satisfying the following conditions (a) to (d) with a total mass of the heat insulating layer as 100% by mass. (a) A content of the inorganic fibers is 5% by mass or more and 25% by mass or less. (b) A content of the infrared shielding particles is 10% by mass or more. (c) A total content of the porous structure and the infrared shielding particles is 70% by mass or more. (d) A ratio of a content of the porous structure to the content of the infrared shielding particles is 1.2 or more.

A dry construction composition that is easily wet-sprayed by a screw pump to form an insulating and mechanically resistant material after hardening comprises: at least one binder that includes at least one primary binder comprising lime and/or at least one source of alumina and/or at least one source of calcium sulfate, at least one water retention agent, and preferably at least one surfactant; and at least one plant-based bio-based filler based on sunflower stalk and/or corn stalk and/or rape stalk, having a Bulk Density (BD) in kg/m.sup.3 that is less than 110. The ratio of the binder to the filler is between 2 and 9 in liters/kg. The composition can be mixed with water in a ratio of water/binder that is greater than or equal to 0.8 to form a wet composition. The wet composition can be sprayed onto a horizontal or vertical substrate or molded to a desired shape.