Energy and Buildings 87 (2015) 116–122

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Energy and Buildings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enbuild

Development and performance evaluation of a new thermal

insulation material from rice straw using high frequency hot-pressing
Kangcheng Wei, Chenglong Lv, Minzhi Chen, Xiaoyan Zhou ∗ , Zhenyu Dai, Da Shen
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: A new thermal insulation material made from rice straw (RSTIB) was developed using high frequency
Received 15 July 2014 hot pressing. The goal of this study is to investigate the effect of high frequency heating, board density,
Received in revised form 5 November 2014 particle size and ambient temperature on the properties of RSTIB. The results indicated that the optimum
Accepted 8 November 2014
physical and mechanical properties of boards are obtained with a particle moisture content (MC) of 14%,
Available online 18 November 2014
a board density of 250 kg/m3 , and an L-type particle size. Additionally, the thermal insulation boards had
fairly low thermal conductivity, ranging from 0.051 to 0.053 W/(m K). Comparison with conventional hot
Keywords:
pressing confirmed that the pressing duration can be greatly shortened by high frequency hot pressing.
Thermal insulation
Rice straw
The boards subjected to high frequency pressing had higher internal bonding strength (IB) values than the
High frequency hot-pressing boards subjected to conventional hot pressing. As an environmentally friendly and renewable material,
RSTIB is of interest for energy saving purposes when it is used as building insulation material for walls
or ceilings.
© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction for green building materials is rising sharply, especially insulating

China is rapidly developing in economy. The building industry
has been identified as a vital engine of economic growth. The rising
need of housing for the growing rural and urban population is a
pressing issue. Statistically, at present more than 2 billion square
meters new houses are built in China every year. To maintain rapid
rate of economic growth in the 21st century it is important to put
strategy for housing to meet the needs of the rural and urban pop-
ulation.
At present, bricks are used as the main wall materials in China,
which causes a huge amount of farmland to be destroyed every
year. Meanwhile, high energy consumption and serious environ-
mental pollution for using bricks as the wall materials have great
effect on the development of the building industry. To protect eco-
logical environment and reduce energy consumption for building,
a lot of attention is being paid to develop the environment-friendly
and energy-efficient building materials.
Because energy efficiency in buildings will be evaluated not only
based upon heating demand, but also according to the primary
energy demand, the ecological properties of the building materi-
als for the whole assessment has become essential. The demand
∗ Corresponding author at: No. 159, Longpan Road, 210037 Nanjing,
China. Tel.: +86 25 8542 8506; fax: +86 25 8542 8518.
E-mail address: zhouxiaoyan@njfu.edu.cn (X. Zhou).
materials from renewable resources [1]. It is well known that agri-
cultural straws (such as rice straw, wheat straw and so on) have
been used as building insulation material for a long time due to
their hollow structure, low density and outstanding characteristics
of heat insulation. It has reported that typical thermal conductiv-
ity values for cellulose insulation materials are between 40 and
50 mW/(m K) [2]. Therefore, to improve the thermal-insulation
properties of the exterior building envelope after straws being
incorporated by means of advanced manufacturing technologies
is scientific in theory and feasible in practice. The use of straws in
building will not only solve the problem of straw as a waste, but
also will help in building houses having significantly low impact
on the environment without sacrificing most of comforts we have
been accustomed to having.
The currently reported methods for the manufacture of ther-
mal insulation materials for buildings from agricultural straws
mainly include: (1) prefabricated straw-bale panels; (2) com-
pressed straw-based boards. The prefabricated straw-bale panels
are made from bales of straw (commonly wheat, rice, rye and oats
straw) as structural elements, building insulation, or both are com-
monly used in natural building. Goodhew and Griffiths [3] showed
that the straw-bales offer good insulation values of 0.067 W/(m K),
which is much lower than that of wood and other building raw
materials. Straw-bale construction is a sustainable method for
building, from the standpoint of both materials and energy needed
for heating and cooling [4,5]. The successful use of straw bales as

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2014.11.026
0378-7788/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
 K. Wei et al. / Energy and Buildings 87 (2015) 116–122
thermal insulation within the external envelope of buildings has
been demonstrated by the increasing number of successful contem-
porary projects around the world [6,7] Advantages of prefabricated
straw-bale panels over conventional insulation materials include
the renewable nature of straw, cost, and easy availability. How-
ever, they are sensitive to moisture content, susceptibility to rot
and high space requirements for the straw itself.
The compressed straw-based boards are produced by bonding
straws with natural adhesive (or self-bonding), synthetic resin,
and inorganic cementing material at room temperature or high
temperature. Evon et al. [8] manufactured new thermal insula-
tion fiberboards by thermo-pressing from sunflower mixed with
proteins and lignocellulosic fibers, acting respectively as binder
and reinforcing fillers in what could be considered as a natural
composite. The result showed that the heat insulation properties
improved with decreasing fiberboard density, and thermal con-
ductivity of the least dense fiberboard was only 0.0885 W/(m K)
at 25 ◦ C. Mati-Baouche et al. [9] carried out a research to develop a
new insulating bio-based composite made with chitosan and sun-
flower’s stalks particles. Composites with a thermal conductivity
of 0.056 W/(m K) were obtained with a ratio of chitosan of 4.3%
(w/w) and a size grading of particles higher to 3 mm. These thermal
performances are competitive with those of other insulating bio-
based materials available on the market. Panyakaew and Fotios [10]
described the production of low density thermal insulation boards
made from coconut husk and bagasse without the use of chemical
binding additives. Both insulation boards have thermal conductiv-
ity values ranging from 0.046 to 0.068 W/(m K) which were close
to those of conventional insulation materials such as cellulose
fibers and mineral wool. Zhou et al. [11] used cotton stalk fibers to
manufacture an environment friendly binderless fiberboard with a
low thermal conductivity (0.059–0.082 W/m K) by high frequency
heating, which is particularly suitable for ceiling and wall applica-
tions to save energy. More similar bio-based insulation materials
have been developed from agricultural straw and natural adhesive
[12–14]. These environment-friendly thermal insulation materials
are excellent insulating components for building materials as wall
or ceiling for energy conservation except for relative lower bonding
strength and sensitive to moisture and humidity. Therefore com-
pressed straw-based boards bonded with synthetic resin are more
likely to be accepted. Cravo et al. [15] examined thermal proper-
ties of an ecological liner low density particle-based on agribusiness
residues (peanut hulls and coconut fiber) agglutinated with bicom-
ponent polyurethane resin. Experimental investigations revealed
that adding agribusiness residues helps to solve the problem of
thermal control in poultry houses. Binici et al. [16] had utilized
sunflower stalks and cotton textile waste to manufacture thermal
insulation materials with epoxy as binder. An experimental work
concluded that samples having sunflower stalk with cottony tissue
had low heat transfer coefficients. A useful construction material is
produced while some waste materials causing environmental prob-
lems are warded off. Paiva et al. [17] set up an alternative expedite
experiment to evaluate the thermal insulation performance of corn
cob particleboards bonded by wood glue under real thermal and
hygrometric conditions. The tests results showed a disappointingly
low thermal insulating performance of the studied particleboards
compared with expanded polystyrene and extruded polystyrene,
but it is still acceptable in terms of thermal insulating building
purposes. Korjenic et al. [1] developed a new organic thermo insu-
lating material from renewable resources (jute, flax and hemp) and
binders (bicomponent fibers) with comparable building physics
and mechanical properties to convectional insulations materials.
Other authors [18–20] have been studying the technical potential
of using other types of synthetic resins for producing bio-based
thermal insulation materials, such as soy protein-based adhesive,
urea-formaldehyde adhesive, and hybrid organic–inorganic binder.
117
Except for the aforementioned products made from agricultural
straw and synthetic resin, thermal insulation materials produced
from straws and inorganic cementing materials are also being
concerned. Several authors [21–26] have already proposed using
different agricultural residues, such as wheat straw, barley straws,
date palm fibers, olive stone, coconut and durian mixture, as rein-
forcement and sand concrete, plaster concrete, gypsum, cement
lime mortar as matrix to develop new lightweight construction
materials with a lower thermal conductivity. The research results
reveal that agriculture straws loading induce a high effect on the
mechanical and thermal properties of the composites. In summary,
there are undoubtedly strong reasons to believe that developed
alternative products from agricultural straws are promising in a
thermal insulating perspective [27].
Among these products, the thermo-pressed straw-based ther-
mal insulation boards are paid much more attention due to its
simple and efficient production process. However, it still takes long
time to prepare thick insulation materials by means of traditional
platen-pressing process. To further improve production efficiency,
a new process for manufacturing insulation materials from rice
straw using high frequency hot-pressing is developed in this study
and the effect of high frequency heating, board density, particle size
and ambient temperature on the properties of rice straw insulation
materials are investigated.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Material
Rice straw was harvested in an agricultural field of Nan-
jing, Jiangsu Province in China. Methylene diphenyl diisocyanate
(MDI) resin (100% solid) was provided by the Huntsman Com-
pany (Germany), and it was a dark yellow liquid with a viscosity
of 275 MPa s (25 ◦ C). Acetone purchased from Nanjing Chemicals
Reagents Company in China was used as a diluent for MDI.
2.2. Methods
2.2.1. Rice straw preparation
Rice straw was chipped into particles with lengths of 10–30 mm.
To investigate the effect of high frequency heating on panel prop-
erties, the moisture content (MC) of particles was adjusted to 10,
14 and 18%. In addition, five types of particles were obtained by
screening. Table 1 shows the distribution of particle size deter-
mined by the screening analysis.
2.2.2. Manufacturing of rice straw thermal insulation boards
(RSTIB)
The resin content of MDI was 8% based on the weight of the
oven-dried rice straw particles. To reduce the viscosity of MDI,
acetone was added into the adhesives for diluting at a quantity
ratio of 1:1. The MDI resin–acetone mixture was stirred to make
it uniform, and then, the mixture was sprayed onto the particles
using a rotating drum blending machine with an air-atomization
nozzle. The blended particles were shaped using a forming box
Table 1
Screening analysis for five particle types.
Particle type Weight ratio (%)
+10 −10 + 20 −20 + 40 −40
F 95.5 4.5 0 0
S 62.6 10.8 23.6 3.0
L 45.6 13.5 14.3 26.6
M 38.0 24.5 26.5 11.0
N 21.0 33.5 30.0 15.5
118 K. Wei et al. / Energy and Buildings 87 (2015) 116–122

(450 mm in length and 450 mm in width). Forty millimeter-thick
RSTIB mats were prepared with a target density of 200, 250, 300
and 350 kg/m3 . After forming, the mats were loaded into a press.
Two pieces of Teflon sheets were placed on the top and bottom
surfaces of the mat to prevent the boards from sticking onto the
hot plates during pressing. To improve the production and quality
of the thick boards, a CGM-30 high frequency (HF) press was cho-
sen. HF is a type of electromagnetic (EM) radiation with frequencies
1–400 MHz. EM heating is an alternative to the hot platen pressing
with high efficiency and effectiveness. During the conventional hot
platen pressing, heat is sequentially transferred from the platen to
the panel core primarily through heat conduction and convection
[28,29]. The densities of the pressed composites across the vertical
direction are usually non-uniform, i.e. higher density in the surface
layers and lower density in the core. This well-known vertical den-
sity profile (VDP) is a result of the temporal and spatial interactions
between heat and mass transfer and of elements consolidation [28].
Hot platen pressing requires extremely long times for heat to trans-
fer from the surface to the core, particularly when pressing thick
composites. However, in EM heating, the energy directly trans-
ferred into the composite is absorbed by the asymmetric molecules
and transformed into heat [30]. Therefore, the heat transfer is not
just relying on the conduction from the composite surface during
HF hot pressing, which results in faster moisture moving, more uni-
form resin cure and elements consolidation, leading to a quicker
and more efficient hot-pressing process.
A thickness gauge was inserted between the two parallel plates
before pressing to control a uniform thickness for all samples. Then,
the HF generator was switched on with a voltage of 2.2 kV and a
frequency of 6.78 MHz. The experimental conditions are shown in
Table 2. Three conditions were fabricated for each condition.
Temperature is a major factor influencing the quality of gluing
during high frequency (HF) hot-pressing. A temperature detector
of fluorescence optical fiber (FTS-CTM-300A-3M) was used to auto-
matically and accurately measure the internal temperature of the
mats during HF hot-pressing. The sensors were inserted into the
center and surface layer of the mats. The temperature detectors
were connected to a computer. The time interval for recording the
data was set to 5 s. Then, the mat was loaded into the press. Because
the curing temperature of the MDI resin was approximately 140 ◦ C
according to the test of DSC, the HF generator was turned off and
the mat was removed from the press until the temperature of
the central layer reached 140 ◦ C approximately. Thus, the detec-
tor automatically saved the temperature change data during the
hot-pressing process.
2.2.3. Thermal conductivity
The thermal conductivity of all boards was carried out in a
steady state using the slab method, which is a well-established
approach for bulk materials [31]. Measurements were made using
the Lambda 2000 measuring device (Netzsch, Germany). Test
specimens with dimension of 300 mm × 300 mm × 40 mm were
sandwiched between the hot plate and the cold plate. Measure-
ments were taken using the device operating on the stationary
slab principle at a mean temperature of +20 ◦ C and a temperature
gradient of 20 ◦ C. Based on the measurements of the temperature
and heat flux difference across the specimen thickness, the thermal
conductivity was determined as shown in Eq. (1):
 dT 
q = −A (1)
dx
where q is the heat flux density,  is thermal conductivity, A is
the cross-sectional area of the sample, and dT/dx is the temperate
gradient.
2.2.4. Mechanical and physical properties
The internal bonding strength (IB) test was carried out using
specimens with dimensions of 150 mm × 150 mm × 40 mm. The
test was carried out according to the standard for thermal insu-
lating products for building applications – determination of tensile
strength perpendicular to faces (EN 1607) [32].
The modulus of rapture (MOR) test was conducted on test
specimens 425 mm × 50 mm × 40 mm. The test was conducted con-
forming to the standards specified in thermal insulating products
for building applications-determination of bending behavior (EN
12089) [33].
The thickness swelling (TS) test examines the expansion ratio in
thickness after immersion in water for 24 h. Specimens with dimen-
sion of 50 mm × 50 mm × 40 mm were used. The test was carried
out in compliance with the standard for thermal insulating prod-
ucts for building applications – determination of short-time water
absorption (EN 1609) [34].
3. Results and discussion
As a thermal-insulating material, the thermal conductivity is
one of the most important properties that should be investigated.
The thermal conductivity of fibrous insulation materials is affected
by a number of basic factors: density, moisture content, tem-
perature, and particle size [35]. In general, thermal conductivity
increases with rising temperature, moisture content and density.
Fundamentally, this variation originates from the porous structure
of fibrous insulation materials and the difference in thermal con-
ductivity of a solid, liquid and gas, which is believed to be caused
by the different intermolecular distance of the matter at different
states. To optimize the performance of RSTIB, the effect of high
frequency heating, board density, particle size and ambient tem-
perature on the thermal conductivity of RSTIB was investigated
as following. Meanwhile their mechanical and physical properties
were also discussed due to its application for building materials.
3.1. Effect of high frequency heating on the properties of RSTIB

Table 2 In HF hot-pressing, the energy directly delivered into the whole

Board manufacturing conditions. board is absorbed by the asymmetric molecules, and then, the
Particle moisture content (MC, %) Board density (kg/m3 ) Particle type
energy is transformed into heat. Thus, the internal temperature
of the mat rises very quickly, which leads to the rapid curing of
10 250 S
the adhesives. The dielectric properties of materials have a signif-
14 250 S
18 250 S icant influence on HF hot-pressing: the greater the dielectric loss
14 200 S factor is, the faster the speed of HF hot-pressing is [36]. Because
14 250 S moisture content is one of the most important factors affecting the
14 300 S dielectric properties of materials [36–38], the different MC of rice
14 350 S
14 250 S
straw particles was selected to investigate the properties of prod-
14 250 F ucts using HF hot-pressing. Table 3 shows how IB and MOR of RSTIB
14 250 L are affected by particle MC. It can be seen that MOR and IB increased
14 250 M with increasing particle MC in the range of 10–14%. Increasing MC
14 250 N
from 10% to 14% enhanced the MOR and IB by approximately 40.12%
 K. Wei et al. / Energy and Buildings 87 (2015) 116–122
Table 3
Effect of moisture content of rice straw on properties of RSTIB.
MC (%) IB (MPa)
10 0.0127 (0.00059)
14 0.0132 (0.00054)
18 0.0112 (0.00076)
and 7.61%, respectively. As the particle MC increased, the dielectric
loss factor of the mat was improved [37], thus the time of HF hot-
pressing was shortened. However, higher MC absorbed too much
energy during pressing, which had negative effects on adhesive
curing. For example, at the particle MC of 14–18%, IB was reduced
by 20%. Considering that the HF press was used in this study, the
particle MC had to be well controlled to prevent the electrodes
from being damaged [11]. Meanwhile, a high mat MC could lead
to ignition phenomenon in the board. As a result, the MC should be
controlled at 14% approximately.
The change of TS of RSTIB with the particle MC is also shown
in Table 3. It is clear that the particle MC has a noticeable effect
on TS of the boards. Increasing MC from 10% to 18% improves the
TS by approximately 50%. At high moisture content, water would
react with more isocyanate groups (N C O) in MDI; thus, fewer
isocyanate groups would be available to react with the hydroxyl
groups of rice straw particles [39]. As a result, the TS of the board
increased.
Thermal insulating properties deteriorate due to humidity and
moisture. The thermal conductivity coefficient of a damp material
is defined by the thermal conductivity of the fixed matrix, fluid
phases, gas phases and their quantities, phase variations and spa-
tial arrangement of the individual phases [1]. RSTIB composed of
rice straw particles has a very high porosity value inside rice straw
and between particles, which has a dominant influence on ther-
mal and moisture behavior of the thermal insulating materials. The
effect of particle MC on the thermal conductivity was evaluated
firstly. The particle MC in the range of this study has no significant
effect on the thermal insulation properties of boards, as shown in
Table 3. The thermal conductivity of the boards remained between
0.051 and 0.053 W/(m K) at the MC of 10–18%. It is obvious that the
initial particle MC is not an important factor governing the ther-
mal conductivity of RSTIB, since water as a medium was involved
in the high-frequency heating and evaporated during hot press-
ing. However, the porous structure of RSTIB determines that it is
water vapor permeable and can accumulate moisture by adsorp-
tion from the air, which will lead to thermal insulating properties
deterioration. This will be discussed in the latter part.
It is well known that materials with thermal conductivity less
than 0.25 W/(m K) are generally regarded as thermal insulation
[40]. Consequently, it can be concluded that RSTIB is of consid-
erable interest for its energy saving and environmentally friendly
properties as a building insulation material.
Compared with conventional hot-pressing, which is usually car-
ried out by conduction heating from the surface, the pressing
duration can be greatly shortened by HF hot-pressing. Fig. 1 shows
the temperature change rule of time on the core layer of boards
during pressing. The time that the core layer temperature reached
100 ◦ C for high frequency hot-pressing was 75 s, whereas the value
for conventional hot-pressing was 765 s. It was approximately 10-
times longer than the former value. During HF hot-pressing, the
energy directly transferred into the whole board is absorbed by
the asymmetric molecules and transformed into heat, thus it does
not only rely on conduction from the hot platens [30,41]. There-
fore, the temperature of the core layer and surface layer of the
board rise very quickly at the same time. Additionally, the press
cycle of HF hot-pressing was only approximately 1/7 of the conven-
tional hot pressing. In fact, it is not feasible to manufacture thick
119
MOR (MPa) TS (%) Thermal conductivity (W/m K)
0.4 (0.028) 13.86 (0.62) 0.0514 (0.00063)
0.56 (0.032) 17.49 (1.24) 0.0517 (0.00024)
0.39 (0.034) 20.4 (0.92) 0.0519 (0.00043)
Fig. 1. Temperature change rule of the time on boards subjected to conventional
hot-pressing and high frequency hot-pressing.
insulation material from rice straw using conventional hot pressing
due to its low production efficiency.
A comparison of properties for RSTIB in different manufactur-
ing methods is shown in Table 4. The conventional hot pressed
boards had an IB value of 0.0096 MPa, while the HF pressed boards
recorded an IB value of 0.0132 MPa. This is due to the application
of the HF heating method, which has been proven to improve the
uniformity of the temperature across the mat thickness direction.
Therefore, the density gradient of the boards was reduced [42].
However, the MOR and TS of boards in HF hot-pressing are lower
than that of the boards in conventional hot pressing because of the
lower surface density of the mat. In addition, different manufactur-
ing methods have no significant effect on the thermal conductivity
of insulation boards.
3.2. Effect of the board density on the properties of RSTIB
Thermal conductivity is the time rate of stable state heat flow
through a unit area of 1 m-thick material in a direction perpendic-
ular to the isothermal planes that is induced by a unit temperature
difference across the sample [2]. The thermal conductivity, k-value,
is the property of a material to conduct heat. Hence, knowledge of
the thermal conductivity values allows quantitative comparison to
be made between the effectiveness of different thermal insulation
materials [43]. Because the RSTIB is a light-weight porous mate-
rial, porosity has a significant effect on the thermal conductivity of
the boards. The thermal conductivity of all boards was plotted as a
linear function of boards’ density, as shown in Fig. 2. Notably, the
higher density of RSTIB is associated with the higher thermal con-
ductivity of the boards. As the board density increases, the solid
substances are increased and the voids are decreased. Addition-
ally, the thermal conductivity of a solid substance is much higher
than that of air within the voids. This leads to a higher thermal
conductivity of the whole material [35].
The board density affects the IB and MOR values of RSTIB,
as shown in Table 5. An increase in the boards’ IB and MOR is
observed with increasing board density. At a board density of
200–350 kg/m3 , the IB and MOR increased 8- and 15-fold, respec-
tively. In fact, during the mat forming process, the increased board
density produces more intimate contact between the particles to
120 K. Wei et al. / Energy and Buildings 87 (2015) 116–122

Table 4
Comparison of properties for RSTIB in different manufacturing methods.

IB (MPa) MOR (MPa) TS (%) Thermal conductivity (W/m K)

Conventional hot pressing 0.0096 0.89 13.52 0.0524

High frequency hot pressing 0.0132 0.56 17.49 0.0517

Fig. 3. Effect of the ambient temperature on properties of RSTIB.

Fig. 2. Effect of board density on thermal conductivity of RSTIB.

Table 5
Effect of board density on mechanical and physical properties of RSTIB.
Density (kg/m3 ) IB (MPa) MOR (MPa)
200 0.0041 (0.00084) 0.16 (0.031)
250 0.0132 (0.0007) 0.56 (0.077)
300 0.0232 (0.00124) 1.07 (0.10)
350 0.0334 (0.00134) 2.6 (0.15)
form strong crosslink in the final boards [44,45] and thus subse-
quently forms stronger boards.
In contrast, the TS decreased with increased board density
(Table 5). Compared to high density boards, low density boards
have more spaces and voids. This caused the water to penetrate
into the boards more easily. Therefore, the density of the boards
influences the TS of the boards. As a result, the optimum board
density was 250 kg/m3 .
3.3. Effect of particle size on properties of RSTIB
Particle size is an important factor affecting the thermal conduc-
tivity of insulation boards. Table 6 shows the thermal conductivity
of boards in relation to the particle size. A decrease in particle size
resulted in an increase in the thermal conductivity of the boards. For
example, the mean thermal conductivity value of F-type boards was
0.0494 W/(m K), whereas that of L-type boards was 0.0543 W/(m K).
The porous structure of RSTIB was created by rice straw parti-
cles. For a given board density, the smaller the particle size, the
smaller the porosity value of the boards. Voids due to porosity
serve as scattering centers for phonons, and they take up a fraction
of the heat conduction volume of the material leading to a lower
thermal conductivity [29]. The thermal conductivity is reduced by
presenting voids in the boards. However, this effect reverses if the
voids cause convection [46]. This paper presents a RSTIB produced
by F-type rice straw particles with good thermal insulation perfor-
mance.
TS (%)
The particle size of rice straw also affected the IB and MOR val-
20.45 (0.93) ues of RSTIB, as shown in Table 6. It was found that IB and MOR
17.49 (1.06)
15.55 (1.35)
increased with increasing particle size from the results for F-, S-
11.41 (0.27) and L-type boards. Compared with wood particles, the outer surface
of the rice straw contains a high amount of hydrophobic wax and
inorganic silicon [47–49], which results in weak bonding between
particles. As the amounts of fine particles increased, the propor-
tion of rice straw surface that contains wax and inorganic silicon
was decreased, and consequently, intimate contacts were formed
between the fine particles, which improved the mechanical prop-
erties of the board. However, higher amounts of fine particles with
larger surface area need more adhesive, which could decrease the
resin distribution of unit area of the straw particles, thus reducing
the mechanical properties of the boards [50]. Decreasing the par-
ticle size from L- to N-type boards resulted in the IB value being
reduced by 30% approximately. In addition, because intimate con-
tacts were formed between the particles, which caused the water
to penetrate into the boards more difficultly, the TS decreased with
increasing particle size (Table 6). As a result, the L-type particle
size of rice straw is appropriate for manufacturing thick insulation
material.
3.4. Effect of ambient temperature on properties of RSTIB
The relation between the thermal conductivity of boards with
an ambient temperature at the particle MC of 14% with the board
density of 200, 250, 300, and 350 kg/m3 is illustrated in Fig. 3. The
results show that the thermal conductivity increases with increas-
ing temperature. For example, an increase of ambient temperature

Table 6
Effect of particle size on properties of RSTIB.

Particle size IB (MPa) MOR (MPa) TS (%) Thermal conductivity (W/m K)

F 0.007 (0.00059) 0.38 (0.028) 29.12 (0.89) 0.0498 (0.00063)

S 0.0132 (0.00087) 0.56 (0.035) 17.49 (1.24) 0.0507 (0.00024)
L 0.0139 (0.00054) 0.56 (0.032) 18.39 (0.78) 0.0508 (0.00043)
M 0.0116 (0.00038) 0.43 (0.021) 15.41 (0.92) 0.0532 (0.00033)
N 0.0103 (0.00076) 0.28 (0.034) 12.8 (1.43) 0.0543 (0.00044)
 K. Wei et al. / Energy and Buildings 87 (2015) 116–122
from 10 ◦ C to 50 ◦ C raised the thermal conductivity by approxi-
mately 20% at the board density of 250 kg/m3 . This observation
could be due to the thermal motion of solid molecules of insulation
material accelerating as the temperature increased. Additionally,
the conductivity of the pores and the radiation of the pore wall
would be improved as well [51]. Thus, the heat transfer rate of the
insulation material was enhanced.
Besides ambient temperature, humidity is also an important fac-
tor affecting the thermal insulation properties. It has been reported
that the thermal insulating materials from natural fibers are sen-
sitive to moisture in the surroundings into which they are built.
Nevertheless, in comparison to other natural materials (wood,
wool, etc.) the moisture sensitivity of hemp, flax and jute is lower
[1]. It has proved that rice straw with rich waxes on the surface
can prevent water vapor from permeating into the inner layers of
straw. Predictably, the moisture sensitivity of rice straw should be
even lower. However, the porous inside rice straw and between
rice straw particles of RSTIB will lead to moisture content changes of
the boards related to humidity inevitably. The thermal conductivity
coefficient is generally increasing with higher humidity. Numerous
works [1,52,53] bring to light this dependence (conductivity/water
content) on many kinds building materials. The impact of moisture
content on insulation thermal conductivity varies with the type of
insulation depending on the composition, properties and internal
structure of the materials used, which determine modes of heat
transfer and the moisture storage capacity of the material [53]. The
next step of our investigation is to expose different types of RSTIB
to different temperatures and humidity levels depending on the
prevailing climatic conditions and to evaluate their actual thermal
performance when they are placed in their locations in the building
envelope. The results will be presented in the coming up paper.
4. Conclusions
Since new ecologically friendly materials based on fast-
renewable natural sources meet the requirements of sustainable
building: such as energy efficiency not only by insulation but
also during production of building materials, reuse and recycling
of building materials, and application of renewable resources,
the demand for these building materials is currently a grow-
ing topic. Agricultural straws (mainly rice and wheat straw) are
abundant in China. To produce building materials from straws
with their low thermal conductivity, fibrous character, low den-
sity, non-toxic, and pollution-free will have a bright future in
China.
In this investigation, a new thermal insulation material (RSTIB)
from rice straws with a low density of 200–350 kg/m3 , a thickness
of 40 mm and the thermal conductivity of 0.051–0.053 W/(m K) was
developed using high frequency hot-pressing. It could be used as
a component of construction material as wall or ceiling insula-
tion for energy conservation. Thermal conductivity was found to
be correlated with the boards’ density and ambient temperature.
Additionally, the thermal conductivity increased with decreasing
particle size, and the results showed that the particle MC did not
significantly affect the thermal conductivity of the boards.
From the comparison with the conventional hot-pressing, the
pressing duration could be greatly shortened by HF hot-pressing.
Additionally, the boards in high frequency hot pressing have higher
IB values than those of conventional hot pressing.
Increasing particle MC in a certain range can improve the
mechanical properties of boards, but the higher particle MC could
reduce the dimensional stability of RSTIB. The boards with the
higher density had the best mechanical and physical properties.
In addition, decreasing the particle size in a certain range could
improve the properties of the boards, but the insulation properties
of the boards would be reduced.
121
Consequently, the experimental investigation indicated that the
optimum properties of RSTIB are obtained with a particle MC of 14%,
a board density of 250 kg/m3 , and an L-type particle size.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for financial support from the National
Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant no. 31270606), the
Program for 333 Talents Project in Jiangsu Province (Grant no.
BRA2011166) and the Priority Academic Program Development
of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (PAPD). Also this paper
was sponsored by Qing Lan Project. Sincere thanks are given to
the Jiangsu Engineering Research Center of Fast-growing Trees and
Agri-fiber Materials for providing the equipment for this study.
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