A Numerical Study on Enhancement of Thermal Insulation Capability of Polyester By Reinforcement of Micro-Sized Rice Husk Particles

Abstract

A numerical simulation of the heat-transfer process within polyester matrix composites filled with micro-sized rice husk particles is proposed in this paper. A commercially available finite-element package ANSYS is used to for this numerical analysis. Three-dimensional spheres-in-cube lattice array models are constructed to simulate the microstructure of composite materials with rice husk content ranging from about 1 to 12 vol% and the effective thermal conductivities of the composites are estimated. The results show that the effective thermal conductivity (Keff) of the composites decreases with increase in the volume fraction of the rice husk fillers. Finally, the simulations are compared with measured Keff values obtained from other established correlations such as Rule of Mixture (ROM) and Maxwell’s model. This study reveals that the incorporation of rice husk particles results in reduction of thermal conductivity of polyester resin thereby increasing its insulation capability. It is found that with incorporation of about 11 vol% of raw rice husk in the polyester resin reduces its thermal conductivity by about 15 %.