13 Dec 2024

Hemp-based mycelium composite measured at 40 mW/(m·K) thermal conductivity

Advanced materials and metamaterialsAdvanced manufacturing
AI illustration · Illustrative scene, not a photograph of the specific device or experiment.

What was demonstrated

In a laboratory study, mycelium biocomposites made from hemp shives, with the fungus Trametes versicolor, had a thermal conductivity of 40 mW/(m·K) according to the abstract. The results text gives an average of 40 to 41 mW/(m·K) for the hemp group, the lowest group average among the four substrate groups tested (twelve variants in total). Conductivity was measured with a heat flow meter to ISO 8301:1991 on 200 × 200 × 30 mm specimens (three per variant). The three hemp variants had densities of 0.09 to 0.14 g/cm³ and bending strengths of 0.10 to 0.15 MPa.

Why it matters

Thermal conductivity is a core property for insulation, and this study gives a measured value for a mycelium material made from an agricultural by-product. The authors state that the composites can compete with non-mycelium insulation such as EPS and XPS on thermal properties, although the body text gives EPS and XPS slightly lower conductivity. One property measured on small laboratory specimens does not show that the material is suitable for building use.

Caveats

  • The specimens were small laboratory samples, three per variant. The study did not test full-size panels, wall assemblies or in-service performance.
  • The hemp variants had low bending strength (0.10 to 0.15 MPa). The strongest bending result in the paper, 0.51 MPa, came from a sanding dust formulation, so the hemp group is weak in bending as well as having the lowest conductivity.
  • The paper prints its conductivity unit as m·W·m⁻¹·K⁻¹. Its conclusions also give one density (0.023 g/cm³) that differs from its table (0.23 g/cm³). Check values against the full text before reuse.
  • Fire behaviour was tested on small 100 × 100 × 30 mm specimens by cone calorimetry (ISO 5660-1:2015), which measured heat release and smoke. The paper does not give a reaction-to-fire classification, and this record does not cover fire performance.

Technology profiles

Sources

  1. peer reviewed paper
    Assessing the Conformity of Mycelium Biocomposites for Ecological Insulation Solutions
    Ilze Irbe, Mikelis Kirpluks, Mikus Kampuss et al.. Materials (Basel), MDPI, 13 Dec 2024. DOI: 10.3390/ma17246111.

Last reviewed 22 Oct 2026.