Gypsum
0.05-0.5 usd/kgGypsum mineral is heated to produce materials useful for building. It is a soft sulphate mineral composed of calcium sulphate dihydrate (CaSO4·2H2O) commonly found in sedimentary rock. Its water content is essential to its unique properties. When heated it undergoes a process of calcination, whereby it gradually loses its water content. This yields a very cheap material suitable for building products, such as board, plaster of Paris and stucco.
It is soft and easily scratched, and naturally bright white, like the White Sands Desert, New Mexico, which is an incredible gypsum dune field. Colours are the result of impurities. As well as building products, gypsum is used in agriculture for soil conditioning and as a fertiliser, concrete making, dental moulds, casts for broken bones and sculpture, for example.
Gypsum is recyclable and new plasterboard panels typically contain a proportion of recycled material. Sources include construction waste and unused boards, and post consumer waste from renovation and demolition work. While pure gypsum can be recycled indefinitely, contaminated waste is less straightforward and care must be taken to ensure the fire performance of new products made of recycled material is not compromised.
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Jesmonite is water-based composite of gypsum and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), acrylic. Similar to polymer concrete, it is a durable material resistant to water, chemicals and weathering. A versatile casting medium, it is suitable for a range of applications in construction, architecture, products, tableware and sculpture. Examples range from intricate cornices to very large columns and facades in architecture, due to its ability to mimic the appearance of traditional building materials such a stone, concrete, metal and even wood. A huge range of pigments are available, including metals and metallics. It is not certified food safe, but suitable for decorative tableware and is used to make sculpture and works or art. Acrylic sealer is applied to enhance stain and water resistance.
It is available in saturated colours, as well as reinforced with fibres (natural and synthetic) to improve mechanical properties. Some grades are fire-resistant and suitable for fireproofing cladding and walls. As well as casting and pouring, Jesmonite is suitable for laminating (with fibre reinforcement) and spraying. A thixotropic additive is added to turn the material into a past-like material, so it behaves more like a mortar or putty.
As a composite material it is not suitable for recycling. However, it can be broken up and recast into terrazzo, such as for brick slips, tableware and sculpture.