Thermal Insulation Material Made From Kenaf Composite

Rofii, Nursahira (2018) Thermal Insulation Material Made From Kenaf Composite. Project Report. UTeM, Melaka, Malaysia. (Submitted)

Text (24 Pages) Thermal Insulation Material Made From Kenaf Composite.pdf - Submitted Version Download (334kB)

Abstract

Malaysia is a hot-humid country that need a very good material to act as the thermal insulator for building. Previously, the material such as brick is use as the wall for the building. However, it lead to the thermal comfort issues to human. Due to that, the manufacturer company create a product that can solve the thermal comfort issue. A combination of polymer matrix and the natural fibre is designed and become a trending in the market. Kenaf is one of the natural fibre that are expected to be a good thermal insulator for the houses and buildings. However, the kenaf cannot be produce alone. Due to that the polymer matrix such as the polypropylene is applied to produce a good composite material. The kenaf composite is fabricated using the major machine such as the internal mixer, the crusher and the hot-press machine. The fibre ratio is divided into polypropylene and kenaf powder of 50:50, 60:40, 70:30, 80:20. The fabrication process is divided into different fibre ratio of kenaf powder and the polypropylene. In this report, three test is conducted in order to investigate the quality of the kenaf composite to be used as a thermal insulator. The test are covering the mechanical and the thermal properties. The three test have been conducted are the thermal conductivity test, the water absorption test and the hardness test on the kenaf composite. The investigation on the three tests can give the best fibre ratio of the specimen that can perform as a good thermal insulator. For the thermal conductivity testing the best k value obtain is 9.74. While for the absorption testing, the preferred moisture content is 10.07%. For the hardness testing is highest at the 71.27. From the result, can be concluded that the best ratio that need to be used is the 50:50 fibre ratio. The kenaf-polypropylene composite is suited for thermal insulation application in the building. As a conclusion, the kenaf-polypropylene composite is recommended as a good thermal insulator due to the low thermal conductivity value and environmental friendly.

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