Thermal Conductivity Characterization of Bamboo Fiber Reinforced Polyester Composite

The main focus of this study is on thermal conductivity characterization of bamboo fiber reinforced composite by varying volume fraction, temperature and fiber angles (0°, 45° and 90°). Bamboo fibers are extracted from its stem using retting and mechanical extraction procedure. These extracted fibers are used as reinforcement in polyester resin matrix for making partially green biodegradable material composite via hand lay-up technique. The thermal conductivity characterization of composites is investigated experimentally by a guarded heat flow meter method. The results show that the thermal conductivity of composite decreases with increase in fiber content and quite opposite trend was observed with respect to temperature. Moreover, the experimental results of composites at different volume fractions were compared with two different theoretical models (E-S Model and Rule of Mixture Model). Good agreement between theoretical and experimental results has been observed. On the other hand, the variation in thermal conductivity with respect to fiber orientation also showed significant effect on thermal conductivity. Thermal conductivities of bamboo fiber reinforced composite at maximum volume fractions are 0.185W/mk,0.189W/mK and 0.196W/mK for fiber angles of 0°, 45° and 90° respectively. The results of this study indicate that the developed composite is an insulating material. Therefore, this composite can be used in building and automotive industry to save energy by reducing rate of heat transfer