Effects of cell size on energy absorption and heat insulation of cemented segmental honeycomb structures

Thermal conduction through building envelopes is a major factor contributing to heating and cooling energy losses, thereby increasing overall building energy consumption. Consequently, the development of novel building materials that combine excellent thermal insulation with mechanical properties has become an urgent research priority. This study reported a segmental cemented honeycomb material that collaboratively optimized mechanical and thermal insulation properties, and the mechanical compression with acoustic emission monitoring and infrared thermal imaging tests were conducted. A thermal insulation theory comprehensively considering the thermal conductivity of the material and the heat transfer limit height of the specific structure was constructed to solve the difficult problem of characterizing the thermal insulation performance of inhomogeneous materials and special-shaped structures. The results show that the Segmental cemented honeycomb material exhibits significant strain hardening characteristics through layer-by-layer deformation and wave load evolution, and its energy absorption increases by 9.73 times with unit densification. Its elastic modulus and initial peak load are negatively correlated with the segment length and number. The gradient honeycomb cavities effectively inhibit crack penetration, and the acoustic emission event increases with the decreases in segment length and number, indicating that densification units disperse stress through local fracture. The cemented wall dominates the heat conduction path, the isolated honeycomb cavities block heat convection, the increase in segment length and number leads to an increase in the size of the honeycomb chamber, an increase in the frequency of temperature fluctuations on the monitoring line, and an increase in the peak-to-valley difference in the fluctuating temperature. The temperature rise rate, heating rate, and heat transfer limit height of the sample are significantly reduced, and the thermal insulation performance is improved by 62.8% by regulating the segmental length and number.