Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Cotton Chemistry and Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #156915
Title: THERMAL INSULATION PROPERTIES OF KENAF AND COTTON NONWOVEN COMPOSITES FOR AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATION

Author
item Yachmenev, Valeriy
item Calamari Jr, Timothy
item YAN, CHEN - LOUISIANA STATE UNIV.
item NEGULESCU, IOAN - LOUISIANA STATE UNIV
item Parikh, Dharnidhar

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/1/2004
Publication Date: 6/1/2004
Citation: Yachmenev, V., Calamari Jr, T.A., Yan, C., Negulescu, I.I., Parikh, D.V. Thermal insulation properties of kenaf and cotton nonwoven composites for automotive application. National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference. 2004. p. 63-68.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: There is good potential for use of vegetable fibers such as kenaf, ramie, jute, flax, and cotton in moldable nonwoven composite materials for automotive applications. Variety of automotive parts, such as headliner, wall panels, trunk liners, parcel shelves, and hood sound insulators with excellent shape stability can be manufactured by conventional techniques. The composites of these fibers have high tensile and flexural properties, coupled with economic and environmental benefits. Four sets of nonwoven materials were produced from refined kenaf fibers, other vegetable fibers and their blends with recycled polyester and polypropylene. The thermal insulation properties of the nonwoven composites were determined by the steady-state heat flow method, in accordance with ASTM C518, using the new thermal conductivity meter. The experimental data show that thermal insulation properties of the nonwoven composites vary significantly, depending on the type of cellulosic fiber, the pretreatment of fibers, ratio of cellulosic to synthetic fibers, and overall densities of the composite.