7. BioFabricating Materials¶
This week we explored the manufacture of various materials using natural products and physical and chemical reactions to find the best formulas for creating sustainable materials.
Main challenges for me:
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Achieving the growth of a living material.
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Experimenting with different recipes to create a functional material that can be applied to design.
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Understanding the principles, constants, and variables for creating various materials.
Research¶
In recent years, concern about environmental degradation has been growing. Environmental problems and the overexploitation of natural resources are a cause for concern, which is why new alternatives are being sought in the world of design and in the way things are manufactured. Research into new materials can contribute to joint solutions that aim at circular production.
What is a biomaterial?
Biomaterials are natural or man-made materials that are designed to interact with the environment in a more friendly way. They are usually manufactured by humans with biodegradable properties, but they can also be cultivated, fermented, or grown. They are primarily designed for life cycles:
Birth → use → degradation
They also have aesthetic, ethical, and political significance, not just functional significance.
Key properties¶
Flexibility
Surface texture
Transparency
Structural strength
Applications of biomaterials¶
Fashion: Bacterial cellulose can be used to create unique garments and accessories, such as bags or jackets, where texture and flexibility are crucial. In addition, biotextiles derived from plant fibers offer sustainable alternatives to conventional textiles.
Architecture and interior design: Panels made from alginate, salt, adobe, and plant fibers can serve as sustainable cladding, combining insulation and organic aesthetics.
Packaging: Bioplastics with customizable textures are ideal for packaging that seeks to communicate sustainability and exclusivity.
Art and sculpture: The diversity of textures and colors of biomaterials makes them ideal for bio-inspired art pieces.
MDD method in design¶
Likewise, researching a little more about biomaterials and their use in the field of design, there is a method based on the experience of materials as the basis for design. The method known as MDD, which is characterized by being material-driven design, normally works with biodegradable materials that can be self-cultivated. This discipline differs from the conventional way of designing, where form is prioritized over material, meaning that the material of the product is chosen in the final stages of design. In contrast, in MDD, the material is the starting point, and the design is guided by the material. If you want to learn more about this method, you can find more information here.
weekly assignment
Check out the weekly assignment here or login to your NuEval progress and evaluation page.
about your images..delete the tip!!
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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.
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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 :)
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get inspired!
Check out and research alumni pages to betetr understand how to document and get inspired
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Comparison research - Aslı Aydın Aksan - TextileLab Amsterdam
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Comparison research - Barbara Rakovska FabLab Bcn
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Jute research - Julija Karas - FabLab Bcn
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Polarisation in bioplastics Viviane Labelle - EchoFab
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Local waste streams - Marieke van Eyndhoven
Add your fav alumni's pages as references
References & Inspiration¶
Within the world of design, there are more and more references and experts in experimenting with materials from whom I could draw inspiration, especially in how design is applied to these materials and how we can adapt them and make them functional to create things.
Laura Messing is an architect, visual artist, and teacher who, in her search for sustainable materials to continue making art, found a world of possibilities for replacing pollutants such as plastics, tanned leather, ceramics, cement, among others, by using organic waste.
While exploring the documentation of previous program participants, Barbara's caught my attention because her experimentation was very diverse, especially the agar agar recipes and how to make mycelium, which were the ones I wanted to work on.
Part of the inspiration for this assignment, in addition to what our instructors had planned for the class, was that I wanted to experiment with food waste and other materials that could help create solid materials for use in everyday products.
- Download reference
Links to reference files, PDF, booklets,
about your images..
-
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.
-
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.
Tools¶
Process and workflow¶
Mycelium-GROWN MATERIAL¶
Mycelium is everything that makes up the root of fungi. It grows rapidly and functions like a neural network underground, helping the fungus to reproduce, feed, and develop. It results from the growth of fungi on organic materials such as wood and waste. They grow like branches, in many directions and with a complex structure, but they can condense into a single space and on any type of surface without stopping growing, which allows a hard material to form.
Ingredients & Recipes for mycelium¶
Prepare this recipe 1 by collecting the ingredients necessary, to be found in the list below:
* Straw
* White mushroom seed
* Water
* Ph regulator CaCO3
* Pot
* Strainer
* Stove
* Containers
* Place the straw in a large pot with water, add a CaCO3 (calcium carbonate) pH regulator, and boil for approximately one and a half hours.
* Once it reaches boiling point, reduce the heat and leave to cool for a further 40 minutes.
* Meanwhile, disinfect the mold or container where you will place the mushroom.
*Start by placing a first layer of straw, covering the bottom of the container completely, and spread the fungus.
* Repeat this process until it is completely full.
*Close it tightly and let it grow.
To let it grow, I put it in a completely black bag and a box and left it behind the refrigerator, and it grew well.
This is how its growth looked in October. I left it a little longer to see if it could grow more or what its highest point of growth was.
This is the final result. I believe it achieved a good level of growth and maintained its structure and firmness.
SCOBY (Kombucha) - GROWN MATERIAL¶
Tha Kombucha is a material created from bacterial cellulose produced during the fermentation of kombucha (fermented tea), generating a biomaterial similar to vegetable leather that can be cut, sewn, and molded.
Ingredients & Recipes for SCOBY¶
Prepare this recipe 2 by collecting the ingredients necessary, to be found in the list below:
* 3lt of water
* 1lt Scoby
* 18gr of black tee
* 300 gr sugar
* Pot
* Stove
* Containers
* Mold
* Prepare the tea infusion by placing it in a cloth and wrapping it with another cloth to roll it up and secure it.
* Boil 3 liters of water in a pot.When it reaches its peak boiling point, add 300 grams of sugar and stir to dissolve completely.
* Add the tea cloth and boil for 30 minutes.Remove from heat and add more water to cool it down, then let it sit until it is no longer hot.
* First, pour the tea infusion into the container and then add the liter of Scoby.Cover and let it rest.
* This process should be repeated after 15 days, while it grows.
Mixture of sugar and tea
This process should be repeated after 15 days, while it grows.
Place it on a mold with the shape you want to obtain.
LEMON PEEL (Food waste) - BIOPLASTIC¶
I wanted to create a bioplastic using wastes, for this case I used lemon peel and try a recipe from Materiom repository. I used this recipe but instead using curcuma and gelatine, I wanted to experiment with other components such as starch as base and lemon peel as structural load, but the same base of Glycerin as plasticizer and water as solvent.
Ingredients & Recipes for lEMON PEEL BIOPLASTIC¶
Prepare this recipe 3 by collecting the ingredients necessary, to be found in the list below:
* 100ml of distilled water
* 15 g starch
* 7.75 ml glycerin
* 75 grms peel lemon
* Pot
* Stove
* Containers
* Mold
* Spoon
First, blend the lemon peel with water until you have a smooth mixture. I wanted to add a little of the pulp that I had previously removed to see if it would give it more shape or structure. In another bowl, mix the starch with 20 ml of hot water until it has a slightly viscous consistency. Mix everything together and pour into 100 ml of boiling distilled water. Leave for 5 minutes and pour onto the surface where it will be left to dry.
I also wanted to experiment with pigments I had used before, which were spirulina and marigold.
SAWDUST - BIOPLASTIC¶
For this recipe I used the regular components to make a bioplastic, (I took as reference the previous one with turmeric) which are:
- Sawdust for mechanical resistance or texture
- Glycerin as a plasticizer
- Gelatin as a biopolymer or base
- Vinegar to reduce fungal growth
- Water as solvent.
Prepare this recipe 4 by collecting the ingredients necessary, to be found in the list below:
* 150 ml of distilled water
* 28 g natural gelatin
* 10 ml glycerin
* 150 grms Sawdust
* Pot
* Stove
* Containers
* Mold
* Spoon
Caramelize the gelatin to activate its components and add a little water, then add the glycerin and more water until you achieve a homogeneous mixture with a slightly viscous consistency and let it heat for a few minutes. Finally, add the sawdust and let it cool. Then add a little vinegar and let it sit for 5 minutes before pouring it into the mold and letting it dry for 24 hours.
