Microtimber: Advanced Building Elements Made from Waste
Creating high-performance building materials from waste
New research is showing positive results when harnessing 3D printing technology to combine timber and plastic waste and create high-performance building elements.
Waste is a pressing global problem that depletes our primary resources and impacts on our environment. The construction industry is a prime offender, consuming 30-50% of primary materials and producing around 40% of landfill through construction and demolition. In Australia, 85% percent of logged timber and 88% of plastics are wasted and end up in landfill. This project shows that timber and plastic waste are a valuable resource and can be transformed into smart sustainable building elements, using advanced manufacturing technologies in the form of 3D printing.
3D printing can do things that current construction technologies cannot: The 3D printing process allows architects to design at the nanoscale, fluidly varying the material composition and printing parameters to make building elements of variable strength, density, shape, texture and colour as demonstrated in the microtimber prototypes. Future research will develop this concept towards building houses that are affordable and sustainable and can be recycled.
Huang, Y., Loschke, S., Gan, Y., Proust, G. (2024). Interrelations between Printing Patterns and Residual Stress in Fused Deposition Modelling for the 4D Printing of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene and Wood–Plastic Composites. Journal of Manufacturing and Materials Processing, 8(2).
Mai, J., De Oliveira Barata, E., Loschke, S., Proust, G. (2023). Fabricating Wood-Like Textures on Multi-curved 3D Printed Architectural Elements. 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing, 10(1), 15-22.
Huang, Y., Loschke, S., Proust, G. (2021). In the mix: The effect of wood composition on the 3D printability and mechanical performance of wood-plastic composites. Composites Part C: Open Access, 5(100140, July 2021), 102373.
Girdis, J., Gaudion, L., Proust, G., Loschke, S., Dong, A. (2017). Rethinking Timber: Investigation into the Use of Waste Macadamia Nut Shells for Additive Manufacturing. JOM, 69(3), 575-579.
Associate Professor Sandra Karina Löschke, University of Sydney
Professor Gwenaelle Proust, University of Sydney
John Mai, University of Sydney
Yerong Huang, University of Sydney
Eduardo de Oliveira Barata, University of Sydney
Associate Professor Arianna Brambilla, University of Sydney
Adjunct Professor Richard Hough, University of Sydney
Professor Gianluca Ranzi, University of Sydney
