Thermal Properties of Hemp Shives Used as Insulation Material in Construction Industry

• Main Authors: Brzyski, P. (Author), Kosiński, P. (Author), Palczyński, P. (Author), Suchorab, Z. (Author), Tunkiewicz, M. (Author), Wiśniewski, D. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2022
• Subjects: air permeability; Air permeability; building partitions; Bulk density; Construction industry; Frame walls; Hemp; hemp shives; Hemp shives; Industrial hemp; Insulation materials; Measurements of; Pore size; Pore-size distribution; porosity; thermal conductivity; Thermal conductivity; Thermal conductivity coefficient; Thermal insulation; Thermal insulation materials; Walls (structural partitions); Wooden frames
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 The article presents the results of studies concerning raw hemp shives obtained from the Polish crop of industrial hemp as a loose-fill thermal insulation material. The study focuses mainly on the measurements of the pore size distribution, thermal conductivity and air permeability of material. An increase in the value of the thermal conductivity coefficient (0.049–0.052 W/(m·K)) was demonstrated with an increase in the bulk density. The porosity of the individual pieces of shives is 78.7% and the predominant number of pores is in the diameter range of 0.9–3 µm. The paper also presents an example of the use of the tested material as thermal insulation of the wooden frame wall. The heat flow analysis was performed in various wall variants (insulation thickness: 100, 200 and 300 mm and pressure difference 0, 5, 10 and 15 Pa). A clear influence of the variables on the temperature distribution was observed. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).