Project Gras To Plast
For the first time, permanent pasture grass or grass from municipal meadows will be used to produce a grass fiber compound. The aim is to increase sustainability and expand the raw material base so that the cultivation of special grass on arable land is no longer necessary.
The objective is to develop a new fiber production process (filtering and pulping) that can handle the fluctuating properties and compositions of different grass sources and produce fibers with consistent properties, as well as to develop a robust matrix material and compounding process.
In order to increase impact strength, a fiber treatment will be developed that makes the fibers more flexible and counteracts brittle breakage. On the other hand, a plastic formulation specially tailored to the fibers and a manufacturing process for the grass fiber-reinforced plastic will also be developed.
This should enable good bonding of the different grass fibers to the matrix material and significantly increase the impact strength, resulting in new application possibilities for the material. At the same time, the fluidity of the material must be high enough to be able to produce detailed components using injection molding processes.