Construction materials based upon biologically renewable resources - from components to finished parts

By embedding natural fibres, e.g. flax, hemp, ramie, etc. into a biopolymeric matrix made of derivatives from cellulose, starch, lactic acid, etc., new fibre reinforced materials, the so-called biocomposites, were created at the DLR Institute of Structural Mechanics in 1989 and are still being developed. As far as the mechanical properties are concerned, biocomposites are comparable to the well-known glass fibre reinforced compounds. Therefore, the new construction materials are very well suited to be used for anisotropic and specially tailored lightweight structural parts, making use of the DLR knowledge in fibre reinforced technology. Some samples and structures will be shown in the presentation. Whereas traditional compounds consist of very stable components which are very difficult to decompose, biocomposites are made completely from biologically renewable resources. This offers additional possibilities of a convenient removal after the end of the lifetime, i.e. biodegration, composting or carbon dioxide neutral combustion. Thus, biocomposites can also meet the steadily increasing environmental demands of legislative authorities. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Limited. All rights reserved.