A NEW APPROACH TO MANUFACTURING BIOCOMPOSITE SANDWICH STRUCTURES: MYCELIUM-BASED CORES

摘要

A new approach to manufacturing biocomposite sandwich structures is introduced. Materials used in the biocomposite are natural textile reinforcement, mycelium-bound agricultural waste as core, and bioresin. This paper focuses on three specific steps of the seven-step manufacturing process: filling pre-stamped textile shells with core mixture; allowing the core material to grow thereby binding reinforcement particles and textile skins into a unitized preform; and oven drying said preform to drive off moisture and inactivate the mycelium. Specific process details highlighted include design and thermoforming of growth trays, tray sterilization, filling trays with mycelium-inoculated substrates filling and allowing growth to occur, and finally conduction and convection drying/inactivation of the grown parts. To study the new material's stiffness using different materials and under different processing conditions, specimen dimensions were based on ASTM D7250 and C393 standards. All dried samples were tested in flexure by three-point bending method to determine the stiffness and strength of the resin-less preforms and to identify optimal material combinations.