Uusi puu – The New Wood Project shows what wood can do. The project promotes wood-based innovations and provides information about them.
Wood pulp can be used to make durable composite products. The HiPer material resembles felt and thus opens up new design potential.
Cellulose is often criticized for its poor durability and low processing grade. However, wood pulp that has been used to make various types of paper can also be used for more durable products.
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has used the foam forming technology known in papermaking to develop a composite material that can be used for furniture, among other things. It can be both formed into 3D shapes and worked with conventional woodworking tools.
Named HiPer, this composite material resembles felt and can be formed with the help of heat and pressure. In the finished product, the material may be soft and resemble felt, or it can be hard and resemble plastics.
’The process allows for high-volume and cost-efficient production and provides nearly limitless options for product customisation. In contrast to conventional methods, we maintain the fibre properties and can get the full reinforcing potential,’ says Miika Nikinmaa, Biomaterial Solutions Lead at VTT.
30 to 50 percent of HiPer consists of wood pulp and 20 percent of long, cellulose-based fibres, such as flax, cotton, hemp or regenerated cellulose fibres, such as viscose or lyocell. Another possible fibre material are recycled textiles.
In addition, the composite contains 30 to 50 percent by weight of a thermoplastic binding agent. This may be either a biomaterial or a plastic. Thermoplastic materials can be recycled by melting and re-forming.
VTT’s media release cites a calculation by BCC Research, stating that the global market for biocomposites will grow by 7.6.percent per year, to reach USD 7.6 thousand millions by 2027.
’The most brilliant thing about the HiPer composite is that we are able to replace up to 70 percent of plastics by cellulose and at the same time, to gain excellent mechanical properties,’ Miika Nikinmaa says.
VTT believes that the chair they have developed together with the furniture company Isku will create new opportunities for ecological and durable products in the furniture industry, making more use of recycled and bio materials. The biocomposite can be worked to many different shapes and structures, and it can be combined with metal and wood, for example. The material has other potential uses as well, including packagings, transport applications, consumer products and construction.
The HiPer chair shows the typical texture and colour of the material.
