MONITORING AND THERMAL CHARACTERIZATION OF FLAX SHIVES FOR BUILDING THERMAL INSULATION

Author(s): E. Antczak, M. Asli1, F. Brachelet, F. Brue, D. Defer, A. Lucas
Paper category: Proceedings
Book title: Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference
on Bio-Based Building Materials
Editor(s): Sofiane AMZIANE, Mohammed SONEBI and Karine CHARLET
ISBN:
e-ISBN: 978-2-35158-192-6
Publisher: RILEM Publications SARL
Publication year: 2017
Pages: 663-670
Total Pages: 8
Language : English

Abstract: This work involves the study of flax shives, natural product derived from the flax production. We
want to valorize it as a local resource for thermal insulation of buildings, guaranteeing a low
impact on the environment, especially that it doesn’t go through any transformations apart from
the addition of a biological fire retardant. Flax shives arise from flax plant that is grown in
Western Europe. From retting flax phase to scutching, flax fibers are separated from the stem.
When grinding, the central stem is broken into small fragments called flax shives which
represent about 50% of flax production. The developed research focuses on flax as additional
fiber for cementitious materials such as manufacturing flax concrete blocks. The use of flax in
the building sector concerns essentially the insulation. This solution mobilizes the short fiber flax,
called tow. The insulation is usually available in soft rolls or semi-rigid panels of wool. Currently,
the shives are used as bedding for animals or are integrated in the component mixture of particle
board. The main scientific issues related to the study of heat and mass transfer is to determine
the evolution of the thermal characteristics of the material and its durability.
For a first step, we propose a laboratory analysis of hygrothermal behavior of shives by
conventional thermal methods for characterizing thermal conductivity and volumetric heat (flow
meter methods), sorption curve is also determined. Then comes the experimental part that
involves an independent house in which the old insulation of the attic (glass wool) was replaced
by flax shives. We followed the hygrothermal behavior of this new insulation. This work takes
place as a part of a project named "Citizen Researchers" of the “Hauts de France” region.

Online publication :2017
Publication type :full_text
Public price (Euros) : 0.00