Development of areca husk fiber/low melt PET needle punched nonwovens for building insulation applications

Abstract

Thermal insulation plays an important role in contributing to energy savings in the building by heat gains and losses through the building envelope. The widely used insulation material in the construction industry is glass fiber based which is derived from silica sources and other synthetic fibers used are derived from petroleum-based resources. The development of insulation materials from natural and recycled resources will contribute to the cost-benefit as well as the green building initiative. In this research, the needle punched nonwovens were developed from 100% areca fibres and also blended with low melt polyester fibers in three different blend ratios (90% areca fiber/10% low melt PET, 80% areca fiber/20% low melt PET and 70% areca fiber /30% low melt PET). The developed nonwovens were characterized by thermal and sound insulation properties. The developed nonwovens had thermal resistance values in the range of 0.062 m2K/W to 0.100 m2K/W. The developed areca fibers/ low melt PET nonwovens had a sound absorption coefficient of 0.35 dB at a high frequency (6300 Hz) range. Since the developed areca fiber/ low melt PET nonwovens have good sound insulation along with thermal insulation, they can be used in building insulation applications. The bio-degradation behavior of the developed nonwovens was also studied and the results showed that developed nonwovens have better degradation properties.