Thermal insulation and physical properties of particleboards from pineapple leaves

The aims of this research were to study the production processes and properties of thermal insulation produced from pineapple leaves using natural rubber latex as a binder. Thermal insulation boards were made by spraying the pretreated natural rubber latex onto pineapple fiber to form a squared thermal insulation with the size of 20 and 1.5 cm thickness.  Test results on thermal and physical properties showed that the thermal insulation produced from pineapple leaves fiber exhibited a considerably good thermal insulation. The thermal conductivity of the thermal insulation was 0.035 W/m.K with density of 210 kg/m3, which was closed to the commercial insulator. The result showed that pineapple fibrous insulator was extremely potential to replace the synthesis fibrous insulator.   Key words: Agricultural residue, spray process, insulating boards, low thermal conductivity.