INVESTIGATION ON THE USE OF THE CEMENT MORTAR CONTAINING BANANA FIBERS AS THERMAL INSULATOR IN BUILDING

This paper dealed with the valorization of Benin natural resources through the development of new composite materials made of banana fibers-cement mortar which could be used as thermal insulator in building. The developed composites were formulated and made by substituting a mix of sand and cement, in mass fractions, with the banana trunk fibers previously washed with hot water and dried. Cement was dosed at 250 kg m-3 of mortar and the ratio W/C was equal to 0.7 for the samples. The effected thermal tests by the hot plate method using two temperature measurements had shown a decreasing of the thermal effusivity and conductivity when the proportion of fibers increased. One had obtained the respective relative deviations of 25.54%, 56.09% and 65.68% between the thermal conductivity of the reference sample, which was equal to 1.14 W m-1 K-1, and that of the composites. These results made the composites interesting thermal insulators in building with reduction of the normally used quantity of cement and sand and valorization of agricultural waste. The water absorption was also calculated for each sample.