Progress 09/01/23 to 08/31/24

Outputs
Target Audience:As planned our new decorative architectural panels from agricultural byproducts have been introduced and promoted to our target audience of the Architecture and Design community. Through virtual and in person presentations we have educated these architects and designers about the concept, properties and value propositions of these new panels and urged them to begin creating designs that will incude these innovative,sustainable, and beautiful products. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has helped train a couple of undergraduate students on the technique of vacuum assisted resin transfer molding, and a post doc, Muhammad Khusairy Bin Bakri, on designing the intricacies of a mold needed for ensuring proper resin transfer and infusion, while developing a new technique and understanding the over-all process. The work done on the project has also helped in the growth and development of Avishek Chanda, one of the primary inventor of the F- VARTM technology, who has been promoted to the position of Research Assistant Professor from the position of a post-doc in May 2024. The work has also enabled the co-PIs (Bakri and Chanda) to gain experience in working with industries while ensuring quality work is carried out for a fruitful technology transfer. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Formology has been agrresively promoting our new Agricultural Byproduct based decorative panels, which we refer to as AgriFORM, to Archtiects and Designers, as well as other prospective clients,throughout the United States and Canada in the past 12 months. This outreach has primarily been on the form of virtual (Zoom) presentations and in person visits to share our established wood based product lines and introduce/promote the upcoming release and availability of these new AgriFORM materials. We currently have a prototype table top made from Hazelnut Shellsin place at a Winery in Canada where they are testing the material in an exterior application. The feedback has been verypositive as the prototypematerial has held up to the sun, rain and general high demands of an outdoor environment. The architects and designers who have seen our new materials are almost universally intrigued and excited about the prospect of having these unique options to design with elevated sustainability and fresh visual aesthetics.We have had many requests for samples and have begun sending them to designers as part of our standard sample kits. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The remaining tasks, based on that detailed in our original major project goals, will be carried out with the hope of technology transfer to Formology, once necessary IPs and licensing agreements have been completed, by the end of Summer, 2025.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Objective 1 - The major challenge is the use of different types of particulates (hazelnut shells - HS, hemp hurd - HH, Emmer hulls - EMH, Einkorn hulls - EKH, Coconut husk- CH) to fabricate decorative panels. These particulates have variations in density, porosity, shape, size and outer layer coatings. Therefore, to understand the porosity of the preforms, the true densities were calculated using a Pycnometer at WSU's CMEC (refer Project Update Product). The HS were observed to have the highest density, with the HH having the lowest density. This was followed by calculating the bulk densities (ASTM E873 standard), where although HS still had the highest value (39.99 pcf), but EKH had the lowest (5.37 pcf). This variation can be attributed to the size distribution, resulting in lower packing amount in a fixed volume. Binder-less packing techniques were further evaluated to understand the fastest method that helps achieve the highest fiber volume fraction (FVF) of the packed preform. Three techniques were utilized: 1. Filling the desired weight based on target FVF together and then compacting using a compactor. 2. Dividing the thickness into 2 to 5 layers and then compacting each layer with a compactor before introducing each layer. 3. Pouring all the furnish in the frame and using a heavy roller to achieve uniform packing height. Two types of compactors were used, heavy metal and light plywood. The studies showed that the small increase in fiber volume with the increase in the number of layers was not economical and was labor intensive. The roller helped achieve the highest packing density (see Project Update Product). Finally, using the roller with occasional compaction using plywood compactor was established to be the most suitable, economical and efficient technique for packing. The process also helped to calculate the compaction density of the preforms. The true density and the compaction density also helped to calculate the preform porosity, which was observed to be the lowest for HS (0.425) and highest for EKH (0.862), proving as expected that hull type materials with very low bulk density will need highest amount of resin. Relationships were drawn based on the compaction density and bulk densities of the particulates, which were further verified with different furnish types having varying particle sizes. The particle distribution of thematerials was also achieved to understand whether sieving is critical. Initial studies were conducted without sieving, although the hemp panels had fine accumulation proving the need of sieving. This relationship will be further refined and validated. Objective 2 - Small-scale decorative panels were fabricated using the established F-VARTM technique. The Teflon and wooden frames designed and manufactured using WSU OC supported funds were used to make the panels, with the different furnish. The influence of initial furnish moisture content (MC) was studied for HS and EMH panels. It was observed that there is no need to dry the furnish and using the supplied furnish at 11.5% MC (labeled "as-is" furnish) helps in fabricating panels with similar mechanical strengths and slightly enhanced dimensional stability. However, care must be taken not to exceed above 12% MC as it would result in voids during infusion. The resin infusion time was also very similar for the dried and as-is furnish. The confirmation study with EMH also showed similar results with no significant variation in properties. Therefore, it was established that none of the furnish will be dried below 12% MC, enabling time and energy savings. The reduced dimensional stability might be attributed to the drying of the furnish making space for moisture to easily infiltrate through to microopenings that are not visible to the naked eye. The panels achieved with HS were then tested and compared to those of the all-metal molds, showing similar flexural properties but 100% lower water absorption (WA) and 400% lower thickness swell (TS), as per ASTM D1037 standard. The ideal resin viscosity study was carried out using HS particulates with epoxy resins of three different viscosities, 300 cps, 600 cps, and 1200 cps. The 1200 cps failed to complete the infusion process, and comparative study between the 300 cps and 600 cps resins were conducted. The panels made with 600 cps resin showed superior mechanical performance for hazelnut shells, with 19% increase in flexural strength and 91% increase in flexural modulus. However, they experienced 42% increased WA and 200% increased TS. These values, although higher comparatively, are extremely lower when compared to traditional wooden or similar commercial products used in the decorative panel, table-top and furniture industries. Another drawback of the higher viscosity resin is the 12% increase in infusion time, which can be a concern for furnishes with higher porosity. Panels from EMH, HH, and CH were also made successfully using the F-VARTM technique and 300 cps resin with minimal to no voids on both the surfaces. The mechanical results were compared, where the variations in flexural strength and modulus were minimal for the panels tested. The highest flexural strength was achieved with the CH furnish at 28.8±8.4 MPa, and the lowest for HS at 25.4±2.2 MPa. Similarly, the highest modulus was observed for CH furnish at 4.9±0.2 GPa, and the lowest for EMH at 3.7±0.3 MPa. The limited variations prove reliability on the panels, while also proving that minimal interaction between the resin and particulates is present. The increase in modulus for the CH panels can be attributed to the increased interaction between the coconut husks and the epoxy resin due to the higher porosity of the CH particulates. The waxy coating observed on the emmer husks limits the amount of fiber-matrix interaction and adhesion, resulting in reduced modulus. The dimensional stability, however, was the highest for the EMH panels, and the lowest for the CH panels with 1.39±0.1% TS and 1.21±0.5% WA. The infusion times for HH and CH were about 25-30 mins, taking it very close to the pot life of the resin. Therefore, it was established that 300 cps resin will be used primarily, whereas 600 cps resin has the potential to enhance the mechanical properties while compromising the dimensional stability. A plywood backer was introduced to enhancemechanical properties of the panels. Two ways were studied, one with quarter inch plywood being glued using epoxy on the finished panel, and the other being infusing a hybrid preform with the plywood backer usingF-VARTM. The studies showed that the introduction of plywood, in any way, helped improve the mechanical strengths tremendously, with more than 250% increase in strength, 73% increase in modulus, and 230% increase in screw withdrawal strength. Additionally, the comparison between the two ways showed that glued plywood had about a 25% increase in modulus but a 6- 26% decrease in strength. Therefore, there is an option to choose between the methods based on application, whereas the ease of infusing everything together has significant advantages in ensuring uniform packing, faster panel production and repetitive high quality infusion, as surface-voids are almost eliminated in the process. Objective 3 - The various studies on the current design of the F-VARTM exploited some of the issues with the edges, uniform packing height, and post-process cleaning. Therefore, the design was updated with continuous walls and marked edges to ensure a more uniform packing and final panel thickness. Refer Product for design details and a provisional patent has been filed through WSU Office of Commercialization with the updated designs. Two updates have been introduced, with the inlet port being at the bottom and middle of the inlet side, along with the introduction of a reservoir, based on the studies carried out on the all-metal mold. The designs will be 3-D printed using PETG plastic.

Publications