Date palm fibre reinforced composite as a new insulating material

Several panels of date palm leave (DPL) reinforced composites were fabricated using either autoclaving technique with vacuum bagging or press moulds with controlled temperature. Several fibre orientation and dimensions were tested. Two types of resins were selected. The first was a high temperature curing Phenolic (phenol formaldehyde) resin. The second was a two-component Bisphenol resin with amine-based slow curing agent. The panels exhibited very low thermal conductivities ranging between 0.17 and 0.24 W m^-1 K^-1 for the Phenolic resin (depending on the curing pressure) and between 0.16 and 0.20 W m^-1 K^-1 for the bisphenol. The main factors affecting the thermal conductivity were the resin type, fibre to resin ratio and curing pressure. The fibre orientation and size had no measurable effect on the thermal conductivity. The produced laminates were very stable to handle all required machining processes as construction panels.