Durability Assessment of ETICS: Comparative Evaluation of Different Insulating Materials

The External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) is a common cladding technology that is widely used thanks to its well-known advantages. Despite previous studies dealing with ETICS durability in real-building case studies or involving accelerated ageing tests in climatic chambers, little progress has been made in the knowledge of the long-term durability of the system. In order to realize optimized maintenance plans for this component, the durability of the whole system, and of the most-used insulating materials for the ETICS (i.e., cork, polyurethane, rock wool, glass wool, grey EPS, and fiberfill wood), has been investigated. Based on previous experiments on ageing cycles, different climatic chambers were used to accelerate performance decay by simulating natural outdoor exposure in order to assess different physical and thermal characteristics (thermal transmittance, decrement factor, time shift, water absorption, thermal resistance, and conductivity). Recorded trends show that materials with lower thermal conductivity exhibit lower performance decay, and vice versa. The durability of the ETICS with different insulating materials (as the only variable in the different samples) was evaluated in order to quantify service life and then correctly plan maintenance interventions. Life-cycle assessment must take into account service life and durability for each material of the system. A higher durability of insulating materials allows for the execution of less maintenance interventions, with the loss of less performance over time. This study shows the physical and thermal behavior of the ETICS during its service life, comparing the differences induced by the most-used insulating materials. As a result of accelerated ageing cycles, the analyzed ETICS reveals a low grade of decay and measured performances show little degradation; for thermal conductivity, differences between the measured and the declared conductivities by technical datasheet were observed.

Recycling of Mining Waste in the Production of Masonry Units

Masonry units made of clay or Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) are widely used in constructions from Romania and other countries. Masonry units with superior mechanical and thermal characteristics can improve the energy efficiency of buildings, especially when they are used as the main solutions for building envelope construction. Their production in recent years has increased vertiginously to meet the increased demand. Manufactured with diversified geometries, different mechanical and/or thermal characteristics have a high volume in the mass of the building and a major influence in their carbon footprint. Starting from the current context regarding the target imposed by the long-term strategy of built environment decarbonization, the aim of the paper is to analyze the potential of reusing mining waste in the production of masonry units. Mining waste represents the highest share of waste generated at national level and may represent a valuable resource for the construction industry, facilitating the creation of new jobs and support for economic development. This review presents the interest in integrating mining wastes in masonry unit production and the technical characteristics of the masonry units in which they have been used as raw materials in different percentages. Critical assessment framework using SWOT analysis highlights the key sustainability aspects (technical, environmental, social, economic) providing a comprehensive and systematic analysis of the advantages and disadvantages regarding the integration of mining waste as secondary raw materials into masonry units production.

Review of Bumpless Build Cube (BBCube) Using Wafer-on-Wafer (WOW) and Chip-on-Wafer (COW) for Tera-Scale Three-Dimensional Integration (3DI)

Bumpless Build Cube (BBCube) using Wafer-on-Wafer (WOW) and Chip-on-Wafer (COW) for Tera-Scale Three-Dimensional Integration (3DI) is discussed. Bumpless interconnects between wafers and between chips and wafers are a second-generation alternative to the use of micro-bumps for WOW and COW technologies. WOW and COW technologies for BBCube can be used for homogeneous and heterogeneous 3DI, respectively. Ultra-thinning of wafers down to 4 μm offers the advantage of a small form factor, not only in terms of the total volume of 3D ICs, but also the aspect ratio of Through-Silicon-Vias (TSVs). Bumpless interconnect technology can increase the number of TSVs per chip due to the finer TSV pitch and the lower impedance of bumpless TSV interconnects. In addition, high-density TSV interconnects with a short length provide the highest thermal dissipation from high-temperature devices such as CPUs and GPUs. This paper describes the process platform for BBCube WOW and COW technologies and BBCube DRAMs with high speed and low IO buffer power by enhancing parallelism and increasing yield by using a vertically replaceable memory block architecture, and also presents a comparison of thermal characteristics in 3D structures constructed with micro-bumps and BBCube.