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Author(s): , , , ,

Keywords: , , , , , ,

Abstract: In this study, the insulating properties of building materials made out of recycled plant particles were tested with both the laser flash method and the Transient Plane Source (TPS) method. The tests were conducted with aggregates of sunflower pith with particle sizes 1, 1.5, and 2.5 mm, to see how the thermal conductivity behaves with increasing air volume fraction between grains. The TPS method produced values with an increasing trend for thermal conductivity versus air volume fraction. The laser flash method produced a downward trend, but once the values were corrected adding the effects of convection and radiation the values better represented that of the TPS method. The thermal conductivity increases with increasing air volume fraction because as the volume fraction increases heat transfer is more controlled through convection then conduction for gases.

Reference: Journal of Physics: Conference Series 395 (2012) 012015

DOI: 10.1088/1742-6596/395/1/012015