Material world
The material world project aims to find value in waste material. Our brief was to find material (or materials) that had been disposed of by a local business, and turn it into a new material.Then evaluate its qualities based on mechanical testing and user feedback and create proposals for products and contexts where they could be applied; in order to provide the business with a more circular model and help close the loop of material flows.
Our chosen materials were potato waste and old wine corks
Timeline
3 weeks (January 2020)
Group members
William Johnston, Jacob Bleakley + myself
My role
Experimenting with the waste material + ideate how it could be used.
Skills
material experimentation, mechanical testing, circular design
Software
InDesign, Photoshop, CES
Problem
Food waste disposal is a large problem faced by business’. Potato peels are often put into sewage, causing blockages and contributing to fatbergs. We contacted local grocers and supermarkets and they allowed us to take their potato waste off their hands.
Although cork is abundant, it is important to reuse it when possible to make sure that the growth can keep up with the demand. Therefore we asked a local bar to experiment with their collected wine corks.
Material Experiments
Starch extraction
Potatoes are very high in starch and due to the complex sugars in starch, they make great natural glues. To extract the start from the potato peels:
Shred the potato peel and soak in water (optimum temperature is 21.5 degrees.
Filter mixture through fabric twice
Cooking techniques
When the starch was heated in the pan it began very thin and watery, however after 20 minutes over a low heat and mixing continually with a spatula, it plasticised.
Used the oven at 100 degrees to dry samples out by evaporating the water. this take varying lengths of time from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
Let this settle for 20 minutes and remove excess water.
Lay out starch on a tray and let it dry. Rehydrate when it needs to be used.
Material learning
Although the material experiments seem quite simple, a lot was learnt about how different mixtures of materials behave, that could be carried forward into future material experimentation:
The more vinegar used, the more the starch breaks down to sugars and the better the glue created.
The higher starch ratio used in a recipe, the better the glue created.
Longer heating time the better adhesive created
Each new material was then tested for:
Ultimate tensile strength
Ultimate bending strength
Thermal conductivity
Water absorbancy
Flammability
Leathery bio-polymer: ground cork, starch, water, white vinegar, glycerine. Cooked together and oven dried. Similar PVA glue like film, smooth, elastic and flexible when dry, when wet the structure weakens and breaks apart slowly and becomes slimy. It was quite flammable and easily torn. Could be used for dry food packaging.
Potato peel parchment: Potato peel boiled to remove bacteria, mixed with water and glycerine then oven dried. Degraded by itself after a while. More starch would have bound it together more and it may have had more tensile strength. It was also highly flammable and not water resistant. Could only have very temporary applications.
Leathery bio-polymer 2.0: The same ingredients and techniques but larger lumps of cork, giving it a rougher texture and binding it better. Less flammable and more buoyant. Could be used similarly in food packaging.
Elevated wine cork: Granulated cork, starch, glycerine, water, vinegar. Ingredients were then mixed together and heated in a pan to form a paste, which was then heat pressed and air dried. Similar material to the wine cork, especially in compressive strength and energy absorption. It was also waterproof, even after an extended period of time submerged in water. Could be used in cork flooring or similar applications.
New polystyrene: Granulated cork, starch, water. Mixture created and pressed into a muffin tin and oven dried at 100 degrees. Produced an aerated structure similar to polystyrene. Due to the high cork content it was very buoyant and incompressible, however when wet, the compressibility increased and it became sticky. If left in water, the sample completely dissolved. It had many useful properties, including good flame resistance, good energy absorption, good shapeability and low density. Could be used as an alternative to polystyrene in protective packaging.
Brittle bio-polymer: Hydrated starch, water, malt vinegar, glycerine, ground cork. The ingredients were cooked in a pan for 20 minutes, then mixed with the cork and oven dried. This sample had similar properties to the other bio-polymers but was more brittle and lower in density, but still quite flammable.
Starch film: Hydrated starch, water, malt vinegar, glycerine. This was then cooked in a pan for 20 minutes , then spread thinly and oven dried. Due to there being no cork, the sample was transparent and became molten when heated. It also sunk in water and degraded a lot more easily than the cork sample. Could be used as transparent film on dry food packaging.
Potato paper: Potato peel, starch, water, glycerine, white vinegar. Ingredients were mixed in a pan and then partially oven dried, allowing the starch mixture crystallise. The granulated cork was then mixed in later and the sample was left to air dry. This sample had a high compressive strength due to its high density, but became sticky and more flexible when wet. Due to the high cork content it was flame resistant and robust.