Scientists are trying to understand how flax and hemp fibres interact with adhesives at an atomic and molecular level to form a biocomposite material.
A biocomposite material usually comprises plant-based fibres and a resin, which is usually of polymer or plastic.
Jeffrey Cutler, director of industrial science at the Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon and part of the fibre research team, said quality variations between batches are the challenge when using and reproducing biocomposite materials.
By using the synchrotron at the Saskatoon research facility, “we can try to understand at the atomic and molecular scales how the individual atoms of fibre are put together and how does that fibre actually bond directly to that resin material,” he said.
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Data from the synchrotron can be used to make changes to the biocomposite so that commercial reproduction is more uniform, Cutler said.
The non-profit Composite Innovation Centre Manitoba Inc. received $103,000 in federal funding for the six-month-old project as well as private sector contributions for the $220,000 project.
Simon Potter, project innovation manager with the Composite Innovations Center, said the study is a response to demand for environmentally friendly materials to replace fibreglass and metals now used in the aerospace and building sectors.
The goal is to improve the performance and specifications of biomaterials so they can be used in vehicle construction of vehicles, he added.
“What we are trying to do is increase the number of parts we can make because we are limited at the moment by the performance of the fibres,” he said.
“With this project, if we understand the chemistry of the fibres and we can formulate resins and biofoams that would specifically be designed to interact with the chemistry of the fibres, we will actually get much stronger composite materials out of it.… There…(are) lots of good reasons for us moving in this biocomposite direction.”
Potter said biocomposite materials are biodegradable and require less energy to produce.
Results of the study will be available by early next year, he said.
