Utilization of Sheep Wool as a Building Material

Abstract

Abstract The objective of this paper is to assess the properties of sheep wool used as a thermal insulation material, reinforcement, and carbon fibre precursor. For this purpose, from the aforementioned domains the following materials were selected: polystyrene, polypropylene, and polyacrylonitrile. The research methodology consists in using the comparative analysis method in order to evaluate the properties of sheep wool and the proposed polymers. In the field of thermal insulation materials, sheep wool has similar properties to those of polystyrene, however, the differences between the two materials are more numerous. The performance of wool fibres as reinforcement in concrete is, overall, inferior to that of polypropylene, and the investigation of using wool fibres as carbon fibre precursor is still in development. It has been found that wool can replace, to an extent, the hydrocarbon-based products.