As part of the Mycelium Boards and Building on Mycelium projects, 3 students started working on mycelium processing. This project was offered within the Biobased Building minor at HZ University of Applied Sciences.
Students Ahmed, Julia and Thomas talk about their research and experiences.
Heat pressing
The aim of the project was to investigate the best way to process mycelium by means of heat pressing, in order to obtain the strongest material properties. These properties have been determined by conducting tests in the field of bending strength, tensile strength and fire resistance. “During heat pressing, two different pressures were applied to the material, at three different temperatures for three different times. For example, eighteen different samples were obtained that were processed under different conditions. ”
Premiere
This research was one of the premieres in the field of heat pressing mycelium, so the students had little information to start with and it was difficult to establish expectations for the outcome of this research.
Results
The results of the study were very promising. After comparing the mycelium boards with traditional materials, it turned out that the material properties obtained were certainly not disappointing. “We also found out during testing that the tensile test and fire resistance test contributed almost nothing to our research, as there were disturbing factors present due to unfavorable conditions. As a result, the results were so different that unfortunately no conclusions could be drawn. ”
“All in all, we were able to make very valuable findings during this project and hope to have contributed to future research in the field of mycelium. “
Thumbnail: A mycelium board before (top) and after (bottom) heat pressing
Would you like to read more about the other two studies that were carried out within the minor Biobased Construction? Click on the links below!
This is an article from the Biobased Update of February 2021, click below for more interesting articles.