(701a) Thermal Insulation Material Based on Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) and Date Palm Wood Powder (DPWP)

Most of the engineers moving towards improving society by various applications don't affect the environment mainly. The field of this study is to evaluate the possibility of using the available wastes such date palm wood powder (DPWP) as a filler in thermoplastic biopolymer matrices for the preparation of insulating composite material to limit the energy consumption and loss in buildings.

Utilizing insulating materials widely in construction will ultimately result in a reduction in energy consumption. Therefore, this will be positively reflected on the environment by reducing the carbon emission (e.g. CO2).

Poly lactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable polymer that can be derived from renewable raw materials such as corn starch and sugarcane, was used as a thermoplastic matrix in order to develop a biodegradable composite. The PLA-DPWP composite samples produced were then checked to different physical, mechanical and chemical tests to come up with a product formulation having best or optimum properties.

The samples were prepared with different percentages weights (0-50% wt) of DPWP using melt extruder and compression molding machine. The produced composites exhibited low values of thermal conductivity, which varied between 0.0692 to 0.0757 W/m.K .Adding the DPWP to PLA matrics reduced slightly the mechanical strength of composites, however, the measured mechanical strength was greater than that of many commercial heat insulators.

The target and creativity of this work is to utilize waste materials in the development of waste materials-thermoplastic polymeric (biodegradable polymers) composites as heat insulator material with competitive properties and cost