DETERMINATION OF THERMAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF PALMYRA WOOD (BORASSUS AETHIOPUM MART.) FROM MALFANA IN CHAD

Palmyra or Borassus aethiopum Mart is a timber that is used in the traditional construction of housing and semi-modern yet its thermal characteristics are very little known. The aim of this work is to determine experimentally thermo physical characteristics of palmyra wood of Chad. In this contribution, we will determine the moisture content and density of the wood palmyra and we use the method of guarded hot plate to estimate the thermal conductivity in different parts of the specimen namely the Heart, and the sapwood duramen after reaching steady state. Given the results, we note that the thermal conductivity of palmyra wood depends on its anatomical structure and humidity. The lighter parts are more insulating and remain always with high humidity. Note also that the heat spreads more in the direction parallel to the fibers than perpendicular to the fibers.