Thermal insulation produced from pineapple leaf fiber and natural rubber latex

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the thermal property of thermal insulation board produced from admixtures of pineapple leaf fiber and natural rubber latex at different proportion level and the thermal property was evaluated based on the American Society for Testing Materials standard. Thermal insulation boards were fabricated using a hot pressing technique at a temperature of 150 °C under a pressure of 100 kg/cm 2 for 5 min to form a squared thermal insulation with the size of 35 cm and 0.9 cm thickness. The thermal conductivity of the thermal insulation was 0.057 W/m K with density of 338 kg/m 3. The success of this study primarily proclaims a high feasibility of producing thermal insulation from pineapple leaf fiber and natural rubber latex as a substitute for synthetic fiber. © (2012) Trans Tech Publications.