Evaluation of Humidity Control Ceramic Board Using Gypsum Binder

Active clay, bentonite and zeolite were used as porous materials for humidity controlling ceramic boards. The specific area and the pore volume of active clay were higher than bentonite and zeolite. The flexible strength of the gypsum board decreased with an increasing amount of porous material, and the flexible strength was lowest when active clay with a higher specific surface area than others porous materials was added. The specific surface area and total pore volume of ceramic boards containing porous material were highest at 102.25 m(2)/g, 0.142 cm(3)/g, respectively, when the active clay was added. In addition, as the amount of added porous materials increased, the specific surface area and total pore volume of the ceramic board increased, but the average pore diameter decreased. The addition of as porous materials with a high specific area and a large pore volume improved the moisture absorptive and desorptive performance of the ceramic board. Therefore, in this experiment, the moisture absorptive and desorptive properties were the best when active clay was added. Furthermore, as the amount of added porous materials increased, the moisture absorptive and desorptive properties improved. When 70 mass% of active clay was added to alpha-type gypsum, the hygroscopicity was the highest, about 300 g/m(2), in this experiment.