海洋ゴミやマイクロプラスチックが深刻な環境問題となっているため，100%植物性の生分解する製品の開発が急がれる。木材，紙パルプ，わらなどは食料と競合しない植物材料だが，熱可塑性がなくプラスチック同様の成形加工ができない。そこで本研究では，木材を一度繊維化し，セルロース系増粘剤，水と混練し，天然物由来の粘土状木質繊維素材を開発した。通常の切削加工では難しい形状の木質材料を押出成形などすることに成功し，プラスチック代替の可能性を見出した。パイプ状成形品「ウッドストロー」はウッドデザイン賞2018に入賞し，以降新聞各社，WEBメディア等に多数取り上げられ，本研究の独創性や挑戦性がおおいに評価された。
Since the marine debris and the microplastic are regarded as serious problems, it is urgent to develop 100% plant-based biodegradable products. Wood, paper pulp, and straw are plant materials that do not compete with food, but they have no thermoplasticity and cannot be molded like plastics. In this study, wood was firstly made into fiber, and it was kneaded with a cellulosic thickener with water to develop a clay-like wood fiber material. We succeeded in molding a wood material with a shape that is difficult to make by ordinary cutting and found the possibility of replacing plastics. The pipe-shaped molded product "Wood Straw" won the Wood Design Award 2018, and was subsequently featured in many newspapers, WEB media, etc., and the originality and challenge of this research were greatly evaluated.
押出成形可能な粘土状木質繊維素材の開発によるプラスチック代替への挑戦
2021RP0106
(161.99KB)
