Experimental and theoretical study on heat-insulating properties of fibrous assemblies in natural state using a new apparatus

Five types of fibrous assemblies, namely, polyester, wool, cashmere, kapok, and goose down, were tested for their heat-insulating properties in the natural state using the apparatus developed by the authors. The influences of bulk density, fiber type, fiber arrangements, and compression on the heat-insulating properties of the fibrous assemblies was examined systematically. The results show that kapok assembly with low bulk density, goose down assembly with high bulk density and the randomly arranged fibrous assembly demonstrated the best heat-insulating property; however, considering practical use and the influence of compression, kapok assembly and fibrous assemblies arranged in the form of fiber balls exhibited the most stable and optimum heat-insulating property. The Daryabeigi heat-transfer model that considers fiber contact and scattering effect was used to calculate the heat-insulating properties of the five fibrous assemblies. A similar model was developed by Fanworth, which neglected the fiber and the scattering effect. Comparison of the two models showed that the Daryabeigi model was more accurate in predicting the heat-insulating properties of fibrous assemblies.