7. BioFabricating Materials¶
Learning outcomes¶
- Research skills: the participant has acquired knowledge through references and Concept development
- Technical skills: Master techniques for growing and crafting personalised materials
- Process skills: Anyone can go through the process, compare and explore the recipes
- Final outcome: create a material chart
- Originality: Has the design been thought through and elaborated?
Student checklist¶
- Include some inspiration: research on artists, projects, platforms that work with biomaterials, local ingedients and resources
- Produce at least one crafted and one grown material:
- Crafted material - explore the different recipes and understand how to adjust them based on the ingredients:
- Grown material - explore the different recipes and understand how to adjust them based on the ingredients
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Document your recipes, the ingredients and process and if there have been changes, document your unexpected discoveries
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Name your materials, classify them by typology and display them in a systematic order of samples
- Submit some of your swatches to the analog material library of your lab. (20cm x 20cm approx.)
Research¶
I was so fascinated by the work Anastasia explained in the Bio-based Fabrication Workshop during FAB24 Mexico, and became very much interested in Fabricademy. Although being skeptical about the durability of Bio-Material usage in automobile seat (sorry I have to always consider this due to Toyota related work), there are some I want to proceed this week.
- Alternative leather; Kombucha, Fish Skin
- Waterproof coating; Alginate, Kakishibu (persimmon tannin)
- Flame retardant coating; Alginate, Kakishibu
- Soft touch coating; glycerin
Regarding Fish skin, I was very much inspired with following site;
A Review of Bio-tanning Materials for Processing of Fish Skin into Leather
Good reason to investigate Fish Skin for vehicle seat can be seen in following footage;
Kenyan Entrepreneur Turns Fish Skin Into Leather |Network Africa|
Beautiful finishing of Fish Skin
Nakara-Namibia's Fish Skin
I am curious about Alginate being considered as water proof, flame retardant, and anti-bacterial properties. Then read following papers introduced by Anastasia;
All above papers are explaining about remarkable characteristics about Alginate, and I wanted to know the concrete recipe of Alginate and other material for above paper tests which are not mentioned.
References & Inspiration¶
Here under are the processes suggested by Anastasia that I should try this week in terms of durability, waterproof, anti-bacteria, and softness.
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Kombucha and Kombucha pulp > I need to add some glycerin if I want to make elastic. Make 3 or 4 samples using different glycerin-in concentration
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Fish skin leather > not only dry it but also make elastic with glycerin
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Alginate coating > Coatings for Jute fabric with alginate that give waterproofing , flame retardant and antibacterial properties. either apply with a brush or with silk screen printing or with a paint gun pulverization. More glycerine you add the more flexible it will be.
Process and workflow¶
Kombucha¶
How to make Kombucha(Microbial Leather) by class lecture
Kombucha growing
* kombucha (given by Rico) cut in several small pieces
* black tea (ceylon tea) tea bag x 5
* sugar 150g
* water 2500ml
* plastic container
* big pan for 2.5-3.0L water boiling
* scissors
* linen (or cotton) to cover the container from small insects with air breath
* iron mesh to reinforce the wide area of linen coverage
* rubber band leash
* Sanitize inside of plastic container with alcohol.
* Pour water into big pan and boil.
* Put black tea bags into pan just after the boiling. Soak until tea gets room temperature.
* Pour tea into container.
* Sanitize scissors by boiled water.
* Cut kombucha into several pieces and dip them by spreading evenly in container.
* Cover container with iron mesh and linen, then tie the edge of linen cover with rubber band leash.
* Change the tea every week to keep supplying nutrition for kombucha.
putting tea 5 tea bags into pan
spread cut kombucha in container
cover container with linen
After 1 week, some molds are found on the surface of kombucha.
kombucha after 2weeks
Since, some molds were found in kombucha, I decided to make kombucha pulp instead of plane kombucha leather.
Weight of kombucha after 2weeks grow was 241g.
Kombucha from container includes vinegar on it's surface.
Getting rid of vinegar by hand wash with soap.
Molds are also picked by fingers.
kombucha after washing by soap
weight of kombucha after wash was 175g. (66g reduction)
making "kombucha pulp" with blender
Divide kombucha pulp into 4 cups 25g each.
Kombucha pulp bio material
* kombucha pulp 25g
evaluation result: strong for tension, but very crispy without cushioning feel
* kombucha pulp 25g
* glycerin 1.3g
evaluation result: strong for tension with elasticity and soft touch with cushioning feel
* kombucha pulp 25g
* glycerin 2.5g
evaluation result: too elasticity and sticky touch with gel like feel
* kombucha pulp 25g
* glycerin 5.0g
evaluation result: it seems never dries
* kombucha pulp 25g
* glycerin 2.5g
* alginate 2% water 2.5g
evaluation result: will be done later
* kombucha pulp 45.8g
* glycerin 4.6g
evaluation result: not dried yet
Kombucha pulp should be mixed with glycerin for keeping soft and cushioning feel (for seat cushion). The ratio of glycerin should be less than 1/20 against Kombucha weight.
I will continue investigating the ideal ratio by adding Alginate for frame retardation.
Fish skin¶
How to process Fish skin by class lecture
Processing fish skin
purchased sea bream with 399yen
peeling skin start with knife from the edge
Once the skin edge peeled, the rest could be peeled by hands if you are lucky.
When the skins are peeled, be sure to get rid of fish meat by scraping with the opposite side of knife.
Salmon skin can be peeled much easier than Sea bream's.
Salmon skin grinding
Tanning process for the fish skin
Prepare glycerin and ethanol.
Pour 1 part of glycerin and 1 part of ethanol into container with lid such as Nalgene Bottle, then put fish skins into the bottle and close the lid.
Shake "fish in bottle" like washing machine 5-20 times a day.
Bring "fish in bottle" for jogging with my dog helps good tanning process I suppose.
Fish skin became soft after 3 days tanning with glycerin and ethanol.
Sea bream skin after tanning 3days: became transparent and very soft and stretchy
Salmon skin after tanning 3days: became transparent and soft enough for seat leather by my subjective feeling
Sea bream and Salmon skin softness evaluation
I was surprized by the tension strength of the fish skin. I assume, it could be used for seat fabric if the surface gets tolerance against scratch.
I will further investigate adding Alginate coating on its surface.
Functional bio-coating¶
How to process alginate with material by class lecture
Bio-coating
ingredients: jute fiber only
recipe: washed with soap and dried
texture: soft & dry
flame retardation: bad
water proof: bad
ingredients: jute fiber, 2% alginate water
recipe: paint alginate water on washed & dried jute surface with brush
texture: hard & crispy & dry
flame retardation: very good
water proof: good
ingredients: jute fiber, 1 part of 2% alginate water + 1 part of glycerin
recipe: paint alginate + glycerin water on washed & dried jute surface with brush
texture: soft & little bit wet
flame retardation: relatively good
water proof: relatively good
ingredients: jute fiber, 1 part of 2% alginate water + 1 part of 20% kakishibu water
recipe: paint alginate + kakishibu water on washed & dried jute surface with brush
texture: hard & crispy & dry
flame retardation: bad (very good with Linen)
water proof: very good
Prepare 2% alginate water. <--400ml water and 8g alginate
8g of alginate
Prepare 400ml water
Since alginate takes time to dissolve, better to use blender and stay still until bubbles disappear (approximately 3 hours) before the usage.
2% alginate water hand shook then one night stayed still
blending alginate water by blender
2% alginate water just after blending with full of bubbles
2% alginate water after staying still for 3 hours --> bubbles almost disappeared
2% alginate water 25g
glycerin 25g added to alginate water
20% kakishibu 25g added to alginate water
blend by hand
paint on the both sides surface of jute fabric by brush
4 conditions were prepared on jute fabric
drying the coted jute fabric under the sun
I also prepared above coating with different fabric "Linen".
For linen fabric, I sprayed only one side to see how coating works.
Spray each part with masking tape preparation.
Testing video¶
Texture testing video¶
Flame retardation testing video¶
Jute fabric¶
Linen fabric¶
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Alginate + Kakishibu coating Linen fabric
Waterproof testing video¶
I was surprized how jute fabric changes its texture and characteristics with Alginate coating. Now, I could feel the possibility of Jute fabric usage on the surface of seat back. It gives enough stiffness feel and "flame retardation" as the surface of seat. In addition to the strong waterproof characteristics, the Jute fabric need to be made grid like open holes texture for breath ability.
Learning outcomes¶
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My skepticism against Bio-based material and coating usage for vehicle seat has brown away after this investigation.
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Kombucha pulp with a little bit glycerin shows elasticity and soft feeling which can be used in the supporting cushion parts in seat back.
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Fish Skin should definitely be considered as the seat surface with its strong tension characteristics.
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Alginate is a very important item to utilize Bio-based material on vehicle seat surface with its flame retardation, waterproof, and additional rigidity.
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I will continue investigating above all materials with Alginate and Calcium Chloride coating for texture, flame retardation, waterproof and anti-bacteria characteristics.
{ width=200 } { width=200 } { width=200 } --- --- ## _Recipes_ [^1]: recipe: salmon skin fish-leather { width=400 align=right } "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." ??? task "weekly assignment" Check out the weekly assignment [here](http://fabricademy.fabcloud.io/handbook/assessment/criteria/#7-biofabricating-materials) or login to your [NuEval](http://nueval.fabacademy.org) progress and evaluation page. ??? tip "about your images..delete the tip!!" 1. Remember to credit/reference all your images to their authors. Open source helps us create change faster together, but we all deserve recognition for what we make, design, think, develop. 2. remember to resize and optimize all your images. You will run out of space and the more data, the more servers, the more cooling systems and energy wasted :) make a choice at every image :) This image is optimised in size with resolution 72 and passed through tinypng for final optimisation. _**Remove tips when you don't need them anymore!**_ ??? bug "get inspired!" Check out and research alumni pages to betetr understand how to document and get inspired * Comparison research - [Aslı Aydın Aksan - TextileLab Amsterdam](https://class.textile-academy.org/2024/asli-aksan/assignments/week06/#creating-reinforced-composites-personal-experiment) * Comparison research - [Barbara Rakovska FabLab Bcn](https://class.textile-academy.org/2024/barbara-rakovska/assignments/week06/#overview-material-research-outcomes) * Jute research - [Julija Karas - FabLab Bcn](https://class.textile-academy.org/2024/julija-karas/development/02-process/#design-experimental-phase-ii) * Polarisation in bioplastics [Viviane Labelle - EchoFab](https://class.textile-academy.org/2024/viviane-labelle/development/02-process/#resulting-artefacts) * Local waste streams - [Marieke van Eyndhoven](https://class.textile-academy.org/2023/marieke-eyndhoven/project/#materials-derived-from-local-polder-waste-streams) _Add your fav alumni's pages as references_ "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." * Two images side-by-side { width=300 align=left } { width=300 align=right }
* Image reference