Sheep Wool Composite Mortar for Thermo-Mechanical Retrofitting

The construction sector plays a significant role in heavy resource consumption and waste production, directly or indirectly leading to environmental pollution or ecosystem disruption. In efforts to reduce the sector’s carbon footprint and combat climate change's effects, the use of sustainable and eco-friendly building materials is gaining importance. This study highlights the integration of locally available (Sardinian) sheep wool fibres into mortar as an alternative construction product. Experimental findings indicate that incorporating sheep wool enhances the flexural strength of the mortar, suggesting improved durability under bending forces compared to conventional mortar mixtures. However, this addition results in a slight reduction in both compressive strength and thermal conductivity. While a decrease in compressive strength may suggest limitations for specific load-bearing uses, the lower thermal conductivity indicates better insulation properties. Notably, this improvement in thermal performance highlights the boost in the insulation property of the composite mortar. The results show that the composite mortar fabricated with sheep wool fiber can provide an optimum balance between structural performance and improved insulation properties, if selected for integrated retrofitting.