Milkweed Fiber Nonwovens for Sustainable Thermal and Acoustic Building Insulation
Lupescu D, Robert M, Elkoun S. Materials (Basel, Switzerland), August 2025.
Read the paper Free to read · doi:10.3390/ma18163821
What this paper is about
Milkweed floss is hollow and extremely light, which makes it a good insulator. This study blended milkweed fiber grown in Quebec with binder fibers and polylactic acid, produced nonwoven mats by an air-laid process, and tested them for thermal and acoustic performance.
The mats were compared against a commercial hemp insulation product. Milkweed is grown commercially in Quebec for this fiber.
Summarised here from the abstract below. Not the authors’ words.
Abstract
This study investigates the use of a local fiber, specifically milkweed that grows in Quebec, Canada, for nonwoven building applications. Milkweed is a natural fiber with an ultra-lightweight hollow structure that provides excellent acoustic and thermal insulation properties. To provide three-dimensional stability to nonwovens, milkweed fibers were blended with a low-melt fiber composed of a polyethylene terephthalate core and a polyolefin sheath (LM 2.2), and polylactic acid (PLA) fibers. Several nonwovens with different fiber contents were manufactured using an air-laid Spike process. The nonwovens were compared with a commercially available thermal insulation material made of 100% hemp. The thermal conductivity and thermal resistance were measured at different temperatures. The sound absorption coefficient of the nonwovens was determined both using an impedance tube and the Johnson-Champoux-Allard (JCA) acoustic model. The results showed that all nonwovens exhibit thermal conductivity values below 70 mW/m·K at temperatures ranging from -4 °C to 24 °C, which are lower than many materials commonly used in building applications. A sample presented a thermal resistance that is 8%, 10%, and 45% higher than those of rock wool, polyisocyanurate (PIR), and fiberglass, respectively.
Abstract reproduced from the published paper, which is licensed CC BY. Copyright remains with the authors.
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@misc{milkweedusa_researchmilkweedfibernonwove,
title = {Milkweed Fiber Nonwovens for Sustainable Thermal and Acoustic Building Insulation (listing)},
author = {{Milkweed USA}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://milkweedusa.com/research/milkweed-fiber-nonwovens-for-sustainable-thermal-and-acoustic-building-2025/},
note = {Accessed DATE}
}