The present study is performed within the framework of the program of thermal and energy regulation of new buildings in Tunisia. This work presented an experimental determination of the thermo physical properties of insulating materials used in building. For this purpose, a new experimental apparatus was constructed according to the Tunisian standards. An analytical method is used in determining the thermal conductivity, and two analytical models are used to determine the thermal diffusivity. The obtained values of various materials were measured. They are acceptable compared with the values given by the available published results. Original insulating materials using palm tree fibers and seaweed fibers in a cement matrix were studied in this work.

This paper presents an experimental and theoretical study of the thermo physical properties of date palm tree fiber-reinforced plaster composites. In this work, the thermal conductivity and diffusivity of composites are determined by the "DICO" method. The palm tree fibers are incorporated, without any preliminary treatment, into a plaster mixture. Four samples containing different percentages of palm tree fibers are realized (prepared) and examined. Furthermore, the interface of palm tree fibers is observed by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The experimental results show that the reinforcement of plaster by palm fibers decreases the thermal conductivity and diffusivity. Therefore, the measured thermal conductivity is compared with the theoretical models (serial model, parallel model, Krischer model and Willy and Southwick model).

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