MODELLING OF RUMBIA LEAF STALK (GABA-GABA) AS WALL MATERIAL AND ITS THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY CAPABILITY

Indonesia is famous as an agricultural country where most people work as traditional farmers. One of the forms of agriculture is the plantation of rumbia (Metroxylon sago Rottb) (Flach, 1997). However, the utilization of rumbia plants is still not maximized, where the waste is mainly the petiole, stalk leaf many removed. In fact, since ancient times the community has been using the leaves and stems as a roof and wall of traditional residential buildings. For example Rumoh Aceh, Sasadu in Jailolo, Minahasa house, Banjar house, Bajo tribe house, and Honai in Papua. However, the leaves and stalks of rumbia used as building material are highly flammable (Cecep et al, 2011). In addition, the use of stalk rumbia as a wall in traditional buildings is still very simple, ie only by tied (Arifin, 2010). Seeing the benefits of the leaves that are so potential to be developed, it is necessary to research the stalks rumbia can be more useful. One of which is utilized as a laminated board manufacture which is then used for household or industrial needs. This derivative board is made by using auxiliary material such as adhesive. This adhesive will help build stronger lamina bonds resulting in good board properties. In this study selected adhesive epoxy as a binder and stalk leaf rumbia, thus forming laminate material. Each laminate made from the leaves of rumbia with different variable ratios will have different physical and mechanical properties. It is expected that with the known mechanical laminate board stalk leaf rumbia is expected to be made as an alternative building materials, such as ceiling and furniture walls. The objective of this research is to model the rumbia leaf stalk material as a composite particle board, to know the physical and mechanical characteristics of composite stalk particles and the material's thermal conductivity.