Research Article Insulation Characteristics of Sisal Fibre/Epoxy Composites A. Shalwan, 1 M. Alajmi, 1 and A. Alajmi 2 1 Manufacturing Engineering Technology Department, College of Technological Studies, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, 13092 Kuwait City, Kuwait 2 Automotive and Marine Technology Department, College of Technological Studies, Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, 13092 Kuwait City, Kuwait Correspondence should be addressed to A. Shalwan; ama.alajmi1@paaet.edu.kw Received 15 October 2017; Revised 29 November 2017; Accepted 5 December 2017; Published 25 December 2017 Academic Editor: Yiqi Yang Copyright © 2017 A. Shalwan et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Using natural fbres in civil engineering is the aim of many industrial and academics sectors to overcome the impact of synthetic fbres on environments. One of the potential applications of natural fbres composites is to be implemented in insulation components. Termal behaviour of polymer composites based on natural fbres is recent ongoing research. In this article, thermal characteristics of sisal fbre reinforced epoxy composites are evaluated for treated and untreated fbres considering diferent volume fractions of 0–30%. Te results revealed that the increase in the fbre volume fraction increased the insulation performance of the composites for both treated and untreated fbres. More than 200% insulation rate was achieved at the volume fraction of 20% of treated sisal fbres. Untreated fbres showed about 400% insulation rate; however, it is not recommended to use untreated fbres from mechanical point of view. Te results indicated that there is potential of using the developed composites for insulation purposes. 1. Introduction Nowadays, governments in developed countries demand engineering industries to implement ecosystem in their products and look for sustainable materials [1, 2]. Material scientist and researchers are exploring the potential of using natural fbres as reinforcement in composites. Natural fbres have the advantages of availability, ease of manufacturing, and being less aggressive to manufacturing tools, sustainable, and biodegradable compared to the synthetic fbres [3–5]. Tere are many works that have been done to evaluate mechanical [5], physical [6], and tribological [7] behaviours of polymer composites based on natural fbres. In [8, 9], a comprehensive review on the fax fbres and the potential of using natural fbres in various engineering applications has been addressed. One of the recent applications of natural fbre polymeric composites is for energy absorption applications [10]. In civil engineering application, natural fbres have been used in diferent structures showing promising results [11]. Te main concern in the composite characteristics is the bonding between the reinforcements and the matrix [12]. With regard to the natural fbres, there are poor adhesion properties between the raw natural fbres and the syntactic resin [13]. Tis is due to the presence of waxy layer on the surface of the fbres and undesirable substances. To overcome this issue, there are several chemical treatments that have been attempted to improve the interfacial adhesion of the fbres with the matrix. Silane and NaOH were found to be good chemical solutions at optimum concentration in which the surface of the fbres is dramatically enhanced resulting in high interfacial adhesion with the matrix [14]. 6% NaOH solution removed the waxy layer of several natural fbres such as coir [15, 16], kenaf [17], and jute [18]. In addition, at this percentage of concentration, there is no damage on the structure of the fbres. However, at higher percent of NaOH, there is signifcant damage to the fbres structure which deteriorated and the strength of the fbres [16]. Termal characteristic of polymeric composites is one of the key components in materials selection especially in civil constructions. Te thermal behaviour of polymers based on natural fbres has not been comprehensively understood and less works have been reported. Degradation of fbre polymer composites has been extensity studied. However, insulation behaviour of the composites is not fully reported and understood. Terefore, there is a need for investigating the insulation properties of fbre polymeric composites. Hindawi International Journal of Polymer Science Volume 2017, Article ID 7312609, 6 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/7312609