Thermophysical characterization of tropical woods pterocarpus erinaceus (kosso) and afzelia for their use in thermal insulation in habitat

Simultaneous transient measurements of thermal conductivity, thermal effusivity and thermal diffusivityin perpendicular direction to fibers of pterocarpus erinaceus(kosso) and afzelia woods were performed at room temperature (20 °C) with thermophysical characterization of building materials called hot strip based on different thicknesses of these two wood species, using samples of its last dried in vat at 105 °C. The fundamental advantages of this technique lie in the short duration (0 to 180 s) of manipulations ; the very low cost of the probe an estimation method based on a relatively simple modeling of the temperature in center of the probe and the ability to obtain two parameters from a single thermogram record. The main objective of this study is to consider the possibility of using these two species in the development of new insulating materials. The results obtained showed that thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity of the two wood species increase with thickness. Thermal effusivity decreases from 493.99 J.m^(-2).K^(-1).s^(-0,5) to 454.3 J.m^(-2).K^(-1).s^(-0,5) between 3 mm and 6 mm thick and then increases from 454.3 J.m^(-2).K^(-1).s^(-0,5) to 478.40 J.m^(-2).K^(-1).s^(-0,5) between 6 mm and 15 mm thick for afzelia. The kosso thermal effusivity decreases from 424.58 J.m^(-2).K^(-1).s^(-0,5) to 362.83 J.m^(-2).K^(-1).s^(-0,5)between 3 mm and 15 mm thick. Thermal conductivity of kosso is lower than that of afzelia between 3.6 mm and 15 mm. It was further noted that both species have thermophysical properties in accordance with the literature but that kosso wood is a good candidate for new insulating materials production.