Manufacturing of Mycology Composites

摘要

Composite materials grown from fungi, known as mycology materials, provide anovel option for a natural biocomposite material – the entirely natural compositionallows for their disposal through composting, and provides the benefit of reduced impactfrom their manufacture due to being grown from agricultural or forestry wastes. Asmore uses are identified for mycology materials and the number of applicationsincreases, there is a greater need for information on the material’s behavior duringfabrication and manufacture. The purpose of this research is to determine the responseof mycology materials to commonly used manufacturing methods, including cuttingprocesses. Determining the suitability and resulting finish achieved from traditionalmanufacturing processes for mycology materials is a new area of research, useful toboth commercial and artisan users; the results of which can be used to help inform thedevelopment of applications that utilize the biocomposite material.Mycology materials are grown from carbon containing feedstocks, such as sawdust,by digesting the feedstock’s ligneous material to form the structure of the mycologymaterial. The mycology material is made from the vegetative part of the selected fungispecies that grow a network of individual strands of mycelium, called hyphae, to forma cellular material. Mycology materials form a biocomposite comprised of themycelium and the original feedstock, in this case wooden agricultural waste, with themycelium and feedstock analogous to the matrix and reinforcing fiber of a typicalsynthetic composite. Due to being a natural material, fabrication and manufacturingincludes the growth and processing of the fungi species that form the material, and thefollowing manufacturing methods used to shape the material. The growth andprocessing of mycology materials includes the use of molds for near net-shape forming,and the subsequent denaturing of the growing material into an inert material.