Scalable method for bio-based solid foams that mimic wood
Mikael Reichler, Samuel Rabensteiner, Ludwig Törnblom, Sebastian Coffeng, Leevi Viitanen, Luisa Jannuzzi, Tero Mäkinen, Jonatan R. Mac Intyre, Juha Koivisto, Antti Puisto, Mikko J. Alava
Abstract
Mimicking natural structures allows the exploitation of proven design concepts for advanced material solutions. Here, our inspiration comes from the anisotropic closed cell structure of wood. The bubbles in our fiber reinforced foam are elongated using temperature dependent viscosity of methylcellulose and constricted drying. The oriented structures lead to high yield stress in the primary direction; 64 times larger than compared to the cross direction. The closed cells of the foam also result in excellent thermal insulation. The proposed novel foam manufacturing process is trivial to up-scale from the laboratory trial scale towards production volumes on industrial scales.