Effect of Density on Thermal Conductivity of Bamboo Mat Board

Bamboo mat boards (BMB) is a plywood-like wooden board produced from woven mats of bamboo that are soaked inadhesive resin and then pressed firmly together in a hot press.BMB is becoming popular as an eco-friendly material in housing applications such as panelling, ceilings, prefabricated shelters, roofs, doors and door panels etc., hence information on thermal properties of BMB is desired to access it’s heat insulating value, in addition to other physical and mechanical properties.Investigations were carried out to evaluate the thermal conductivity of bamboo mat board (BMB) and to study the effect of density on thermal conductivity of BMB. The thermal conductivity of BMB was determined by a steady-state guarded hot-plate method keeping temperature at 30°C and 50°C considering Indian climatic conditions during summer at bulk densitiesof 0.75 to 1.65 g/cm3. Thermal conductivity increased from 0·121W/m-Kfor bulk density 0·765 g/ cm3 to0.384W/m-K for bulk density1.61 g/cm3. Linear trend line relationship between density and thermal conductivitywas derived with correlation coefficient value of 0.92. From the results, it was found that thermal conductivity of BMB increased with increasing bulk density.