Investigations on thermal properties of biodegradable and environment friendly composite materials for insulation in thermal systems

Abstract

ABSTRACT An attempt was made to prepare new composite materials using jute fibre with the combination of three synthetic resins namely general purpose resin, vinyl ester and isophthalic polyester and cardanol. It is well-known that polymeric materials have low thermal conductivity (0.1–0.5 W/m K). The polymer composites have several advantages compared to conventionally used metals, such as low density, good corrosion resistance and low processing costs. The effect of variation of each parameter such as cardanol concentration (%), synthetic resin and number of layers were studied and a regression equation was developed to identify the best composite material which gives optimum thermal properties. Test results of thermal conductivity for the prepared composite materials are in the range of 0.125–0.161 W/m K