Impact of fiber treatment on the fire reaction and thermal degradation of building insulation straw composite

In this paper, both treated and untreated straw fibers are used to manufacture the light-weight composite for building insulation. The main objective of this work is to investigate the effect of the treatment on the thermal degradation and flammability of the material in order to examine his fire behavior. The selected wheat and barley straws are mixed with lime or gypsum plaster in this experimental investigation. In order to improve the mechanical properties of the composite, the straw fibers are treated with linseed oil and boiled water for decreasing their water absorption and increasing their compatibility and adhesion with the binder respectively. The treatment is carried out by total impregnation in the boiled water and linseed oil. The different composites are manufactured using mixture procedure optimized in previous works of the authors. Then the treated and untreated composite specimens are analyzed and compared through TG-DSC analysis to study their combustion process at microscopic level, and flammability test to study their fire reaction at macroscopic level. The properties of composites based on the fibers treated with linseed oil vary significantly.