The need for the development of new, advanced building materials increases every year, especially due to the necessary diminution of energy performance for building structures and for building production itself (including the production of building materials). Along with the energy performance problems in construction, the issue of CO₂ emission associated with building and the production of building materials is also important. In the field of advanced thermal insulation materials, vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) give the best results. However, their high-energy performance and material consumption present a problem. This work represents an initial part of the development of alternative insulators, based on agricultural and textile industry waste usable in the production of VIP. This article recapitulates basic knowledge regarding key thermal insulation properties of developed insulators and their fire reactions, which impact possible usage in building structures.

This study is devoted to the possibility of using advanced insulation materials, such as Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIP), in the insulation and reconstruction of buildings, in connection with the green elements that are installed on the facade in the case of the use of external thermal insulation composite systems (ETICS). The use of VIP as part of the insulation system will result in a significant reduction in the required thickness of the insulation layer. In turn, the reduced overall thickness of the system will allow for easier direct anchoring of the elements of the green facade through the insulating layer to the base of the structure. The research carried out proves that, by using VIP in the insulation system (with a VIP thickness of 30 mm in combination with 20 mm of extruded polystyrene XPS), the thermal insulation properties can be significantly improved and, thus, the thickness of the insulation system can be reduced to 1/3 of the thickness of conventional insulation (while achieving the same thermal resistance), thereby enabling the anchoring of green elements on the surface of such an insulation system.

This study addresses the issue of the resistance to high temperatures of lightweight concrete lightweighted with sintered fly ash aggregate. Lightweight concretes with different amounts of lightweighting and their properties after loading temperatures of 600, 800 and 1000 °C were investigated. In particular, the effect of high temperature on the mechanical properties of the concrete was determined on the test specimens, and the effect on the microstructure was investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy. It was found that there is an increase in compressive strength between 0 and 21% up to 800 °C, where the increase in strength decreases with increasing degree of lightening. At 1000 °C, the internal structure of the lightweight concrete destabilized, and the compressive strength decreased in the range of 51–65%. After loading at 1000 °C, the scanning electron microscope showed the formation of spherical-shaped neoplasms, which significantly reduced the internal integrity of the cement matrix in the lightweight concrete due to the increase in their volume. It was found that the lightweight concretes with higher lightweighting showed significantly less degradation due to higher temperature.

This article addresses the potential use of secondary polymer fibres in the field of structural concrete as a replacement for primary polymer fibres (mainly polypropylene/PP/), which are used in concrete to enhance its resistance when exposed to high temperatures (especially in the case of fire). Research has shown that, in addition to PP fibres, polyethylene terephthalate/PET/fibres, produced by recycling packaging materials (mainly PET bottles), can also be used as an alternative. These fibres are industrially produced in similar dimensions as PP fibres and exhibit similar behaviour when added to fresh and hardened concrete. In terms of their effect on increasing resistance to extreme heat loads, it has been found that despite a higher melting point (Tm), concrete with these fibres demonstrates comparable fire resistance. Therefore, it can be concluded that secondary PET fibres represent an interesting alternative to primary PP fibres from the perspective of a circular economy, and their use in construction represents a potentially valuable application for PET obtained through the collection and recycling of PET packaging materials.