In the children's story "The Three Little Pigs," the pig who built his house out of straw might have had the right idea.
A 20-member team at MSU's Composite Materials & Structures Center in the Engineering Building are making use of biological materials such as hemp, leaves, grass and straw to make construction materials that are one-fourth the cost and one-half the weight of fiberglass, renewable and biodegradable.
"After 20 years, when a car's life is over, you can put it in the compost heap," said engineering Professor Manjusri Misra, who oversees the project.
The team has been working since January 2002 on the biofibers they hope eventually will replace fiberglass.
Research assistant and chemical engineering graduate student Geeta Mehta said processing sand into fiberglass takes a lot of energy and money and causes pollution.
Using heat, compression, chemicals and molding machines, Mehta is working to bind polymers, or molecular compounds, with biofibers.
"You add A plus B and get a synergy with better properties than A or B," Mehta said.
The result is a greenish piece of board Mehta said that will be just as strong, flexible, thermal resistant and durable as fiberglass.
To do this, she treats fibers with chemicals such as sodium hydroxide, commonly used in manufacturing aluminum. By examining her sample with an electron microscope, Mehta can find how well the polymers are bound. Using polyester resin to bind the fibers together, she then puts the product into an injection molder used to shape fiberglass products.
The group also is working on environmentally friendly polymers based in materials such as soy bean oil to bind the fibers.
Misra said the group already has made parts for Ford Motor Company to use in research for replacing car parts. She said both Ford and General Motors have expressed an interest in replacing their vehicles with ecological "Green Cars" in coming years.
Besides being biodegradable, Mehta said the lighter nature of the fibers takes weight off vehicles, making them more fuel efficient.
But Tao Wang, a research assistant and chemical engineering graduate student, said biodegradability can be a disadvantage.
"There are some draw backs," Wang said. "The properties of fibers are very hard to control. Using this on a car, if it degrades in it, is going to be very bad."
Wang said since the bioengineered fibers are from plants that are susceptible to bacteria and enzymes, which break down the materials. He said the group is working to overcome this problem through chemical treatments of the fibers.
Mehta said most of the new materials' application would be indoors. Outdoor conditions, such as rain water, promote the growth of bacteria, she said.
The research, which has been funded by more than $100,000 from the National Science Foundation, will go on for nine more months.
The group is applying for a patent on their research. Mehta said MSU will own the patent and has the potential to make millions in the event of widespread implementation of products made with biofiber.
Research assistant and packaging graduate student Prasad Mulukutla said there are many uses for products made from the new fiber - everything from tennis racquets to windows - but application of the biomaterial to products could take anywhere from five to 10 years.
He said the use of biomaterial will benefit the United States on a foreign platform as well as environmental.
"Less use of petroleum means we will depend less on foreign countries," he said. "For the future, we will have resources left."
Joseph Montes can be reached at montesjo@msu.edu.
