EFFECT OF PHYSICAL TREATMENT OF HEMP HURDS ON THE PROPERTIES OF BIOCOMPOSITES

References: 14th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2014, www.sgem.org, SGEM2014 Conference Proceedings, ISBN 978-619-7105-21-6 / ISSN 1314-2704, June 19-25, 2014, Book 6, Vol. 2, 105-112 pp

ABSTRACT
Nowadays, using renewable sources of energy instead of non-renewable is very current topic in developed countries. The increased attention is devoted to the use of alternative materials that are environmentally friendly. The use of natural fibres (plant fibres from hemp, jute, sisal and the others) as reinforcement for composite materials is attractive for the purpose of the construction. The using of this material has environmental and economical advantages because it is fast-growing and renewable material. The great importance is attached to the industrial hemp as rapidly renewable fibers and non-waste material. Hemp hurds as the woody part of the fibres is a very prospective building material because of its unique properties (exceptional thermal insulation, antiseptic, acoustic and mechanical properties). Due to the low density and high porosity of the hemp hurds, the combination of hemp and binder creates a building material with good thermal and acoustic insulation properties. Today hemp hurds can be used in high-quality products such as hemp concrete, fibre board and composites. In this paper, the attention is given to the physical treatment (cooking in water for 1h) of hemp hurds and to the preparation of the lightweight composites based on 3 different mean particle lengths of this organic filler and on an alternative binder MgO-cement. The effect of water treatment to the physical and mechanical properties (compressive strength, density, water absorbability, thermal conductivity) of the biocomposites hardened in indoor condition for a time period is studied. Based on the results of experiments, significant effect on the properties of prepared composites based on hemp hurds has a particle size of used hemp hurds as well as its physical treatment.

Keywords: biocomposites, hemp hurds, physical modification, mean particle length, MgO-cement