Thermal and Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Plaster Reinforced with Wheat Straw for Use as Insulating Materials in Building

In this paper, a new material consisting of plaster and wheat straw was studied with the purpose of reducing energy consumption. The aim of this study is to test this new compound for use as an insulation material in buildings, where the samples were prepared by mixing wheat straw after grinding it in different proportions from 0% to 15%. On the other hand, the physico-chemical properties and thermal conductivity of the samples were experimentally investigated, and the time lag and energy savings for the samples were also studied. The results showed that the addition of wheat straw leads to an increase in the time lag and also to a decrease in the thermal conductivity, which leads to an improvement in the thermal resistance and energy savings. As well, fiber addition has no effect on the chemical composition of the matrix, as shown by FTIR and XRD analyses.The findings of the DSC and TGA analysis indicate that the inclusion of wheat straw fibers has an effect on the thermal characteristics of the matrix. This new biocomposite can be used as an additive to plaster to create environmentally friendly composite materials for thermal insulation in buildings.