Light-weight Wood-MOC Cement Composite Building Products Made by Extrusion

Xiangming Zhou and Zongjin Li 1 School of Engineering and Design, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, United Kingdom UB8 3PH Tel: +44 1895 266 670, Fax: +44 1895 269 782, Email: [email protected]. 2 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, Tel: +852 2358 8751, Fax: +852 2358 1534, Email: [email protected]. * Correspondence author Abstract: Magnesium oxychloride (MOC) cement is a type of non-hydraulic cement with yellowish color in nature and low alkalinity exhibiting many other properties superior to the Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC). In this study, light-weight wood-MOC cement composite building products, with sawdust and/or perlite as aggregate, were made through extrusion. Physical, nailing and mechanical properties of these composites were investigated. It was found that the specific dry densities of the wood-MOC cement composites were close 1.0 and they were nailable like hard natural wood. Their flexural strength decreased as temperature increased. By replacing 50% sawdust in weight by perlite, the composite exhibited less die swell and higher temperature resistant performance.