Comparative studies of thermal conductivity determination in synthetic wood with recyclable waste content using an experimental design approach

Abstract

Waste has become an everyday subject, especially its efficient recycling due to the increasing decline in the planet’s primary resources. Therefore, their recovery is intended to be total and with minimal energy consumption. Biomass waste is fully recoverable in raw or processed states and in combination with other compatible waste types (including wastewater from construction, polymers, and sunflower seeds). It represents the basic elements for obtaining synthetic wood to replace natural wood, which is very expensive and difficult to obtain (lasts for several years). This paper proposes three methods to determine the thermal conductivity of these new materials (synthetic wood) to guarantee and optimise their thermal characteristics. The determination of thermal characteristics in insulating materials is usually performed experimentally in a double climate chamber or more simply using a special instrument of the ISOMET type, but under these conditions, the sample must meet certain conditions imposed by the manufacturer to be tested. Thus, two experimental investigation methods are used to which a numerical method is added, which consists of modelling by the finite element method with an adequate programme of heat transfer through these materials. Four samples with variable content of recyclable waste obtained through combinations resulting from six different experimental design plans with two controlled factors were analysed to optimise synthetic wood recipes for the efficiency of their hygro-thermal characteristics. The content of the tested samples varied relative to the quantity and number of recyclable wastes included in the final recipe. Thus, the thermal conductivity obtained was different for each sample but close to that of similar synthetic wood-type materials and natural wood.