Effect of fiber aspect ratio and orientation on the thermal insulation property of short palm leaf fiber reinforced epoxy composite

Abstract

The evolution of research ensues new ideologies and methodologies, of which computational methods have been the most sought-after. Most of these computational techniques are based on finite element analysis (FEA). FEA is a cost-effective and time-reliable method for investigating complex problems. The present article uses the ANSYS APDL package to simulate the thermal insulation behavior of palm fiber reinforced composites w.r.t fiber aspect ratio and fiber orientation. For this, a cubical model is developed with cylindrical fibers of different aspect ratios and orientations inside it. It is found that the aspect ratio is inversely proportional to the insulation performance, and the horizontal orientation of fiber performs superiorly than the vertical orientation. The experimental data is also collected for different fiber loading (3.5, 5.5, 7.9, 9.3, and 19.2 vol%) conditions to validate the FEA model. It is observed that the bubble formation and their size and distribution during the composite fabrication are crucial for comparing the experimental and FEA results. © 2025 The Authors