A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Building on Mycelium
Conventional building materials contribute to climate change due to their CO2-footprint and often decrease the health of a building. Mycelium bio-composites (MBCs) solve this as they are a renewable, circular and a healthy alternative. MBCs are produced by colonizing a fungal species through a fibre-like substrate. In this research growth conditions and characteristics of MBCs were determined for combinations of 5 different fungi and 10 different agricultural residue streams.
The material characteristics of the best developed samples were tested: compressive strength, thermal conductivity, moisture buffering value, sound absorption, water absorption, moisture absorption and desorption, as well as material density, according to common standards and procedures. The best combination was Ganoderma resinaceum on rapeseed straw and results indicated that MBCs have similar characteristics to conventional mainstream insulation materials.
Furthermore, growing parts of living material together without external attachment agents for repair or construction purposes revealed new opportunities. Apart from showing a list of well-performing MBC-combinations, it can be concluded that MBCs are a promising material for insulation purposes.
The research continues, both on improving the material characteristics experimentation, as well as on new material research, to show the application opportunities in interior and construction purposes as an alternative to current mainstream materials: see www.mnext.nl.
Building on Mycelium
Conventional building materials contribute to climate change due to their CO2-footprint and often decrease the health of a building. Mycelium bio-composites (MBCs) solve this as they are a renewable, circular and a healthy alternative. MBCs are produced by colonizing a fungal species through a fibre-like substrate. In this research growth conditions and characteristics of MBCs were determined for combinations of 5 different fungi and 10 different agricultural residue streams.
The material characteristics of the best developed samples were tested: compressive strength, thermal conductivity, moisture buffering value, sound absorption, water absorption, moisture absorption and desorption, as well as material density, according to common standards and procedures. The best combination was Ganoderma resinaceum on rapeseed straw and results indicated that MBCs have similar characteristics to conventional mainstream insulation materials.
Furthermore, growing parts of living material together without external attachment agents for repair or construction purposes revealed new opportunities. Apart from showing a list of well-performing MBC-combinations, it can be concluded that MBCs are a promising material for insulation purposes.
The research continues, both on improving the material characteristics experimentation, as well as on new material research, to show the application opportunities in interior and construction purposes as an alternative to current mainstream materials: see www.mnext.nl.
Building on Mycelium
RILEM Bookseries
Amziane, Sofiane (editor) / Merta, Ildiko (editor) / Page, Jonathan (editor) / Rovers, Ilse (C.A.) (author) / Exposito, Francisco Ortega (author) / la Bianca, Ilaria (author) / Vette, Joost (author) / Pelkmans, Jordi (author) / Ng, Wasabii (author) / Böttger, Willem (author)
International Conference on Bio-Based Building Materials ; 2023 ; Vienna, Austria
2023-06-14
19 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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