A representative image of bananas.
Credit: iStock Photo
Research students at University of Maine System, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville developed a banana based biomaterial to manufacture lightweight parts for cars and bicycles.
The study was conducted under the supervision of Cait Clarkson and Amber Hubbard, both ORNL R&D associate staff members in the Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies group, Interesting Engineering reported.
The aim of developing this material is to reduce carbon footprint by minimising the use of traditional materials such as glass fibres, carbon fibres or metallic alloys.
The material is renewable, biodegradable, and could consume less energy.
Interesting Engineering quoted Emma Drake, a junior at Auburn University who said, “We went through the whole stages of a research project in one summer”.
“I was able to get a bunch of really cool experiences both looking at analytical techniques and the extent of their chemical modification,” she added.
The fibres are mainly obtained from the stem or trunk of the banana plant, following which they are cleaned, dried and then made into fibre bundles.
Since bananas are soft and squishy especially in their ripe state, it’s more difficult to make fibres for composite reinforcements from that but banana trees are hard and have long, tough fibres that can make strong material, the article added.
The team of researchers successfully produced a bicycle wheel well reinforced with banana fibre.
Interesting Engineering reports that the material developed was under a Sustainable Materials and Manufacturing Alliance for Renewable Technologies, or SM2ART, program. It was a collaborative effort between ORNL’s Manufacturing Demonstration Facility and the University of Maine, funded by DOE’s Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Technologies Office.
Amber Hubbard, associate staff members in the Sustainable Manufacturing Technologies group said that the idea was to develop their (the students') skills and their experience working with bio-based materials, additive manufacturing, and digitisation for sustainable manufacturing overall, as per the article.
“The goal is to bring students from all over the country and have them have experiences here at ORNL or the University of Maine,” she added.