What question did this study set out to answer?

To explore the potential of invasive tree bark as a sustainable additive in commercial lime mortars.

January 16, 2026Applied Sciences0 citationsOpen Access

Valorization of Invasive Tree Species (Black Locust, Tree-of-Heaven) Bark in Commercial Lime Mortars: Effects on Composites’ Physical, Hygroscopic and Mechanical Performance

VKVASILIKI KAMPERIDOU GPGeorgia Paschalidou IBIoannis Barboutis

Key Points

To explore the potential of invasive tree bark as a sustainable additive in commercial lime mortars.
Examined bark from black locust and tree-of-heaven at varying ratios (0%-30%) in lime mortars.
Analyzed physical, hygroscopic, and mechanical properties of the resulting composites.
Compared properties of mortars with and without bark additives.
Composites with 20% and 30% bark were lighter than traditional mixtures.
Mortars with 10% and 20% black locust bark showed the best compressive strength.
Black locust bark composites displayed higher elasticity and integration than tree-of-heaven-based specimens.
Despite greater water absorption, black locust bark remains a viable additive for more ductile mortars.

Abstract

Fast-growing invasive tree species management produces a significant amount of low-density and low-value biomass, which offers a chance for waste valorization in the environmentally friendly construction sector. This study examines the utilization potential of low-value natural waste materials of tree bark, obtained from invasive hardwood species, in the production of environmentally friendly building mortars. More specifically, this study focuses on mixing bark powder of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) and tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima (Miller) Swingle), with two commercial commonly found lime-based mortar powders in five different ratios of bark content (0%, 5%, 10%, 20% and 30%) characterizing the produced composites, in terms of physical, hygroscopic and mechanical properties. Slightly lighter composites were created with the use of bark additives especially at the bark content of 20% and 30%. As regards the compressive strength, the bark shares of 10% and 20% exhibited the most beneficial performance among those studied, though only the weaker performance of mortar type (M1) benefited significantly from bark incorporation. For both mortars, the composites containing black locust bark presented higher resistance to compression strength and elasticity, demonstrating higher composite integration in general and milder, plastic fraction in relation to tree-of-heaven bark-based specimens, the properties of which are considered crucial for the durability of structural materials. However, black locust bark exhibited higher water absorption compared to tree-of-heaven-based specimens. Despite the drawback of higher hygroscopicity, the results show that black locust bark, especially at lower incorporation rates (10–20%), is a promising functional additive for generating lighter, more ductile mortars, supporting the creation of novel building materials and sustainable waste management.

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Cite This Study

KAMPERIDOU et al. (Wed,) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6969d44b940543b97770926d https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/app16020861

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