Exploring the physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of oil palm trunk and ramie fiber hybrid bio composites as building insulation materials

Agricultural waste has attracted the attention of researchers as a high potential reinforcement material for green thermal insulation. This study aimed to investigate the use of hybrid bio composites from oil palm trunks (OPTs) and ramie fibers as new raw materials for thermal insulation in buildings. In this paper, OPTs and ramie fibers were used as fillers in different particle sizes to fabricate hybrid bio composites using hot pressing, with tapioca starch biopolymer serving as a matrix. The bio composite was produced using a hot pressing machine at 9.8 MPa for 25 minutes, with pressing was conducted in two stages, namely 5 and 20 minutes. The physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the OPTs and ramie fiber hybrid bio composites developed in this study and those of a pure OPTs bio composite as comparison were determined. The study found that the hybrid bio composites showed better performance and properties than the pure oil palm trunk bio composite. The results further showed that the HC200 hybrid bio composite sample had the lowest water absorption and thickness swelling (54.73 and 19.57, respectively), the HC40 hybrid bio composite sample had the highest moduli of rupture and elasticity (19.59 MPa and 2.95 GPa, respectively), and the HC20 hybrid bio composite sample had the lowest thermal conductivity coefficient (0.0807 W/mK). Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the hybrid bio composites had higher thermal stability at 309°C than the pure OPTs bio composite. From the research results, it can be concluded that the hybrid bio composites have the potential as thermal insulation materials for use in the construction sector.