NIST has developed a composite material with a new structure made from wood pulp and marine life

[China Packaging News] Recently, a team of the National Institute of Standards and Technology ( NIST ) has developed a new composite material composed of wood and invasive marine invertebrate organisms, which can improve the materials in food packaging, biomedicine Applications in equipment, construction and transportation design. The research was published in the journal "Advanced Functional Materials". The researchers combined wood pulp derivatives with dried encapsulated organisms to prepare new types of flexible, sustainable, non-toxic and ultraviolet light reflecting properties. Composite materials.

The initial inspiration for the project came from a super-tough natural composite material containing Buligand structure, which is very common among materials of natural design. In such a structure, as any force of impact is pushed into a series of tortuous bends by the nano-scale tortuosity, the molecules are layered in the rotating microstructure and elastic to the crack, which in turn causes the energy to be deflected, thus maintaining the entire material Structure and function.

Jeff Gilman said: " If a suitable product is developed, it can be used in everything from aerospace composites to fresh food packaging. "

Although wood does not have a natural brigand structure, by washing wood pulp with acid to remove lignin and amorphous cellulose, a dry emulsion solution can be produced to form a new material with this structure. On their own, these Buligand membranes are quite fragile and difficult to withstand large weights. However, when the short wood-derived nanocellulose rod is combined with another natural material with a longer rod, the resulting new material is both strong and soft.

For this, the researchers used dried encapsulated organisms because they consist of extremely long and highly crystalline nanocellulose, which is very different from the shorter crystals in wood. A large number of encapsulated organisms are often found on piers and piers in warm water areas. They are one of the Asian dishes. Encapsulated organisms used here were captured in western France, where they were regarded as pests.

By testing the composite material, the exact point of maximum toughness can be determined. The addition of these encapsulated organisms means that the nanocrystals are twisted in different ways and increase the formation of structures in the wood pulp. The resulting structure is also closer and denser, making the material UV-reflective. As pointed out by Jeff Gilman , NIST Composite Project Leader : " Many materials will start to degrade if exposed to sunlight for a long time, so this material may be used as a coating on other surfaces to reflect light and extend the durability of the material . "

The team will continue to explore new blending methods to manufacture industrial composite materials. As Jeff Gilman said: " If a suitable product is developed, it can be used in everything from aerospace composite materials to fresh food packaging. "