Development and characterisation of biocomposite insulator board from durian skin fibres

Abstract

Durian is Malaysia's most popular seasonal fruit, but less than half of the durian fruit is consumed as food. Durian is a type of fruit with a high percentage of waste, which becomes an environmental problem when discarded into the landfill site. Therefore, it is important to utilise durian waste as a potential natural fibre-based composite reinforcement. Durian skin residue is recognised as one of the potential lignocellulosic materials to replace wood in the insulation board industry. The present study aims to develop a low-cost insulation board using durian skin residues as reinforcing materials. Single-layer mats were manually formed, followed by hot pressing using polymeric methane diphenyl diisocyanate (PMDI) resin. The effect of different percentages of PMDI resin (0, 6, 8 and 10%) on the board's physical, mechanical, morphological, and thermal properties was investigated. It was found that 6% PMDI resin is the optimised resin amount to produce PMDI/durian skin fibre composite, and the board with 6% PMDI has the maximum static bending due to enhanced cross-linking by the fibre. In terms of thermal stability and conductivity, the incorporation of 6% of PMDI is considered the best formulation based on the value achieved. The overall results indicated that this study addresses a low-cost innovation for commercial insulation boards as it utilises durian waste and a low dosage of PMDI for implementation in the building and construction industry.