Down to EARTH
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Containers Complete
Despite my initial pessimism, the molds came out great. As expected they do not look or feel like regular food containers but they are rigid, thin and clean. I had some real trouble getting the smaller container off the mold and they needed some trimming but overall they were very successful. The resulting texture is a warm, intricate patterning of fibers that is interesting bordering on beautiful but I don't think people would eat off it. My next steps will be to explore how to implant seeds and if plantable packaging is a viable idea.
Container Molding
After seeing some companies that are successfully, profitably turning sugar cane bagasse into disposable tableware and food-containers I decided to expand my experimenting to include food containers. After separating and sifting the bagasse into four different consistencies I made two sample molds by pouring plaster into existing plastic and metal food containers. I mixed the finer portions of the bagasse with wood glue (the most reliable, dissolvable adhesive I've tested) and pressed the mixture over the mold evenly. I then covered each of the molds with a thin negative mold and vacuum-bagged them to provide strong, even clamping pressure as the glue sets. As I had a very difficult time applying the mixture evenly and thinly I am skeptical that the result will look or feel like the containers I am trying to mimic but I will see when they come out tomorrow.
New Direction
I have begun exploring the potential to use our materials to make biodegradable, compost-able packaging and shipping inserts. I hope to eventually imbed seeds into these inserts to create plantable packaging. This may be my final concept but the idea needs more testing and exploration.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Molding Research
I've been doing some research on the potential to reinforce molding plastic with the natural fibers we have been working with. Turns out, that there are already a few companies developing and producing these plastics with promising results. The most developed product is NCell made by GreenCore and their research shows that it exceeds the strength of glass reinforced plastic (some of the hardest molding plastic available). I've posted the links to the sites below.
http://greencorenfc.com/products.htm
http://www.distrupol.com/images/Processing%20guidelines%20-%20TRANSMARE%20bamboo%20reinforced%20polymers.pdf
http://books.google.com/books?id=QdjzOCnrED0C&pg=PA310&lpg=PA310&dq=bamboo+used+in+injection+molding&source=bl&ots=Gaa60TEzI7&sig=mQ9CDDuJVl9WZY0CGZ5GppGE8EE&hl=en&ei=ePKcTdHYFseB0QGB7KTjAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=10&ved=0CGcQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=bamboo%20used%20in%20injection%20molding&f=false



Monday, April 4, 2011
Costa Rica - Part 4

Costa Rica - Part 3
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