Mycelial Fiber, An Unmatched Fabric Material

Produced in the world

In the material, there is a kind of meshed hypha, which is made of filament winding. It has no fabric texture and can not measure its performance. But it has become the most promising renewable resource in the developed countries.

And when it is abandoned, it can also become the most promising renewable resource in the composite material industry, that is, the use of raw materials.

A fiber development company called Ecovative Design in New York, USA, designed this mycelial winding material as building composite material.

Therefore, they no longer need the high cost polyurethane resin used in tradition. Instead, they believe that the fungal filaments have better function.

This fine hypha is highly active, and the length of the filament grows up to 8 miles, which can replace natural rubber.

In addition to making packaging materials, its terminal products can also make insulating materials, clothing fiber materials and so on.

Other uses are still being developed.

The most notable is that it has a strong biodegradation effect.

Its raw materials are derived from agricultural by-products such as cotton stalks, seed dregs, stems and other agricultural wastes.

Fungal hypha has a very stable performance, which can be moistureproof, molded, low allergen, and it is also the best natural flame retardant material.

According to the ASTM test, fungal mycelia conforms to relevant application standards.

This material was discovered by American biologists in 2007. They immediately founded the Ecovative Design biological fiber development company.

Initially, this material is only used for teaching materials of students at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Because of their biodegradation, they are designed to replace polystyrene foam insulation, which is fashionable without the production of such fiber equipment.

The nutrients needed for mycelia are only sawdust.

Inspired by many functions of mycelia, the inventor successively produced maple syrup on the farm, and then observed how the mycelia grew into mesh.

He quickly discovered that the flat screen made of mycelia grew with insulation and waterproof and flame-retardant.

From this, they realized that many other end products could also be produced, including special fiber packaging materials and so on.

The company

The director could not help saying, "this is a model of new material invention. People have been known that fungi can be used in the food and pharmaceutical industry, but they have never realized their properties, but they can also be used in textile and other industries.

As a result, our company will get the chance to develop. "The original research is just to find a new way to replace the traditional insulating materials.

This new material will be the most environmentally friendly and most useful material for ecological development.

Soon the packaging material produced by the company was adopted by Fortune 500 companies.

According to repeated tests by the Ecovative laboratory, they found that the growth of mycelia required a variety of agricultural by-products, such as straw, straw and other crop straw.

Cotton stalk is the best medium for mycelia growth, and mycelia will grow rapidly when it meets velvet medium.

Of course, this material also depends on the method of straw processing.

In order to make mycelia grow rapidly, they took biotechnology to make it grow quickly.

If mycelium media can be put into the mold to make it grow into the mold needed by people, the shape of mycelia can directly become a packaging product and enter the commercial market.

Cotton fiber nonwoven fabrics often need to be processed many times to form a shape, while mycelia molding eliminates these processes.

After forming, the mycelium needs to be heated and dehydrated, which can stop the mycelium growth and become the packaging material directly.

On the other hand, the properties of building materials nowadays are mostly hard and brittle, but they are not soft. However, mycelia is very soft, which can be used as cushion and sole material. It is flexible, flexible, durable and elastic.

As a result, the company developed a shoe sole material specially commissioned by Puma.

Not only that, the company also developed cushions, silencers and thermal insulation materials for the automotive industry.

On average, each vehicle needs 30 pounds of foam material, and now it is gradually replaced by plastic products.

The mycelial material can be regarded as an unmatched vehicle material because it has all the advantages required, and has the characteristics of recyclability and variability, and the lack of plastic foam has this advantage.

This material

Development is still in the ascendant stage, and its effectiveness and environmental protection are unmatched.