Due to the numerous increase of the building energy consumption in China, the development of thermal insulation materials is quite needed. Herein a novel foam/dense bi-layered insulation ceramic tile was fabricated using high alumina fly ash and waste glass as the main raw materials. Overall a two-step preparation method was employed, including a single-loading pressing and a single-sintering process, which greatly reduced the cost and production cycle. The influence of process parameters, namely the sintering temperature and the chemical composition, on the microstructure and mechanical properties of bi-layered insulation ceramic tiles was investigated. The experimental results showed that the proposed foam/dense bi-layered insulation ceramic tiles had excellent macro and micro properties. Furthermore, the simulation results indicated that the preparation of bi-layered insulation ceramic tile made up a promising strategy for recycling industrial waste into new kind of building insulation materials. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.