Production of Mycelium-based Composite Materials and Evaluation of Thermal Insulation Performance

Increasing awareness of the adverse effects of materials used in the construction industry on the environment and health increases the tendency towards bio-based products based on principles such as circular economy and sustainability. Meanwhile, there is a tendency to solve the post-use waste problem and reduce carbon emissions by extending the service life of building materials or making recyclable materials widespread. Mycelium-based composites (MBC) constitute an innovative natural building material interface with the potential to be used as building insulation material. In producing MBC, a substrate is used because of the significant growth provided by lignocellulosic biomass. In this study, MBCs were produced by growing Pleurotus ostreatus on 16 substrates during a 28-day incubation period. Consequently, two composites with the best performance were selected from the preliminary research on the produced samples. It was aimed to determine the thermal, mechanical, physical properties, microstructure characterization and longterm performance of the selected composites. For this reason, thermal conductivity coefficient measurement, water absorption values, water vapor permeability, ultrasound velocity determination, mechanical strength tests and durability tests were carried out. The findings showed that composites containing beech sawdust and pulp paper had better properties than other substrates. Advanced research results showed that MBCs are promising as thermal insulation materials.