Fiber Fabric-Reinforced Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL) as Insulation Material for Green Buildings

TL;DR

Adding glass fiber fabric to laminated veneer lumber improves its thermal and moisture resistance, making it suitable for green buildings.

Contribution

Glass fiber-reinforced LVL shows improved thermal and acoustic insulation properties compared to traditional wood composites.

Findings

Incorporating glass fiber fabric reduces thermal transmittance by 6.9%.

Moisture content is reduced by 6.7% with glass fiber reinforcement.

Sound absorption and transmission loss decrease by 6.7% and 15.1%, respectively.

Abstract

What are the main findings?
Incorporation of less than 2.5 wt.% of glass fiber fabric into poplar veneers of 81.9 wt.% bounded with 15.8 wt.% of PU adhesive reduces thermal transmittance value of the composite by 6.9%.Incorporation of less than 2.5 wt.% of glass fiber fabric into poplar veneers of 81.9 wt.% bounded with 15.8 wt.% of PU adhesive reduces moisture content of the composite by 6.7%.Incorporation of less than 2.5 wt.% of glass fiber fabric into poplar veneers of 81.9 wt.% bounded with 15.8 wt.% of PU adhesive reduces both the sound absorption coefficient and sound transmission loss of the composite by 6.7% and 15.1%, respectively.

Incorporation of less than 2.5 wt.% of glass fiber fabric into poplar veneers of 81.9 wt.% bounded with 15.8 wt.% of PU adhesive reduces thermal transmittance value of the composite by 6.9%.

Incorporation of less than 2.5 wt.% of glass fiber fabric into poplar veneers of 81.9 wt.% bounded with 15.8 wt.% of PU adhesive reduces moisture content of the composite by 6.7%.

Incorporation of less than 2.5 wt.% of glass fiber fabric into poplar veneers of 81.9 wt.% bounded with 15.8 wt.% of PU adhesive reduces both the sound absorption coefficient and sound transmission loss of the composite by 6.7% and 15.1%, respectively.

What are the implications of the main findings?
Lowering the thermal transmittance value of glass fabric-reinforced LVL makes this material proper for usage in inner and outer structures of green buildings, reducing energy demands of buildings.Lowered moisture content of this composite makes this material proper for usage in wet conditions, thus in bathrooms in inner structures or as outer insulation material of green buildings.Improved acoustic insulation properties of the composite make this material useful for applications in inner structures of green buildings, e.g., in bathrooms.

Lowering the thermal transmittance value of glass fabric-reinforced LVL makes this material proper for usage in inner and outer structures of green buildings, reducing energy demands of buildings.

Lowered moisture content of this composite makes this material proper for usage in wet conditions, thus in bathrooms in inner structures or as outer insulation material of green buildings.

Improved acoustic insulation properties of the composite make this material useful for applications in inner structures of green buildings, e.g., in bathrooms.

In this study Laminated Veneer Lumber (LVL)—widely used in structural wood applications—was manufactured from seven poplar veneers bonded with polyurethane (PU) adhesive and reinforced with either one sheet of glass fiber or carbon fiber fabrics. In order to determine the effects of the fiber fabrics incorporated into the structure of the produced LVLs on their thermal and acoustic insulation performance in structural applications, the thermal conductivity coefficient (λ), thermal transmittance (U), sound absorption coefficient (α), and sound transmission loss (dB) values were determined. The experimental results indicated that the thermal conductivity coefficient of the glass fiber-reinforced LVL was lower than that of both the control group and the carbon fiber-reinforced LVL. The thermal transmittance coefficient, an important indicator of thermal insulation performance in buildings, followed a similar trend. Regarding the sound absorption coefficients, the fiber fabric-reinforced LVL samples demonstrated lower coefficients compared to the control group. For sound transmission loss, no significant differences were observed among the groups, and the sound transmission loss was found to increase with frequency. Results indicate that glass fiber-reinforced LVL composites can be used as replacement of other wood-based insulating materials in green buildings which exhibit worse sound insulation or thermal insulation and which are significantly more affected by changes in relative humidity of surrounding air.

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