Arboform with glass

In the future, I want to work with Arboform and glass. Originally starting my degree in Printmedia and now residing in the glass studio, my practice explores printing processes AND glass and representing the same image through various mediums.

I recently completed a wood cut as part of my 2nd year body of work and while doing this I decided that in the future, when cost and time permits, I would like to slump Arboform on a mould and work with layering inks and/or enamels.


(plaster mould)


The way that a certain medium can change due to heat, pressure etc. and how the determined changes and unforeseen changes can effect the rest of the process interests me greatly and I believe Arboform would be one of these processes. If used in a series, the way the piece turns out will greatly affect the creation of the next piece, weather the image be exactly the same yet in a different material or slightly or greatly altered due to the material used.

Below and some more pictures of the pre-fired dichroic glass pieces I did earlier this year. I post these specific pictures becuase this is where I would start with tests of Arboform and small pieces of glass.

I endebour to use Arboform in the future and I hope to become a semi-advocate for the new "liquid wood" for other artists.

-Its environmental price tag is already hard to beat.

Still waiting for the art..

Through out all my research into Arboform, I haven't been able to locate a single artist working with the new material. The closest I have come is the Sergio Rossi eco-pump and the designer Fossil watch.

I firmly believe in the coming years Arboform will become widely used in more designer jewellery and products in a range of mid-high end markets.

Through researching Arboform, I can see great potential for it in my own practice. As I experiment with a lot of moulding and pattern processes in my current work, Arboform would be very interesting from an injection moulding point of view to produce wall pieces.

The image below is a piece I created 1st semester this year. It is 6mm slumped glass onto a plaster mould I carved and filled with frit and powder. This style of artwork would be very interesting to see injection moulded in Arboform. To do this though I would need to turn the image into a CAD file and send it off to Technaro in Germany.





The downside of Arboform at present it that Technaro (the only distributor) is located in Germany. Just the location alone makes it difficult to assume a project like this. Other draw backs from using Arboform at the moment are the cost and possible language barrier.

Liquid Wood Is Plastic of Tomorrow, Say Scientists

The new substance would be safe for use in toys


Household items could also be made from Arborform






http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3938912,00.html

A "green" nativity scene?

Nativity figurines made of liquid wood (Credit: Copyright Tecnaro GmbH)

When it comes to toys, it is vital that chldrens toys do not release any softeners or heavy metals that could endanger the human body due to wear and tear or exposure to the elements.

“One milestone in this respect has been achieved in certificate EN 71 (Part 3) being awarded under the food-grade test. This so-called 'sucking test' for children's toys showed ARBOFORM® not only to be below the exposure limits, but to be even below the detection limits of all the hazardous substances it was tested for.”


The following is an except taken from msnbc.com where columist Bryn Nelson spoke to Norbert Eisenreich, a senior researcher and deputy of the directors at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology in Pfinztal, Germany about the creation of Arboform in relation to childrens toys and the 'nativity scene':

To make the material more toy-friendly, researchers dramatically reduced the high sulfur content typically associated with the separation of lignin from wood’s other fibers. Eisenreich said a range of processes are widely available for separating lignins without the need for sulfur chemicals.

The institute’s solution, he said, was to use high-pressure hydrolysis (with nothing more than water, high temperature and high pressure) to yield water insoluble lignin. The resulting material maintains its stability even if exposed to water or saliva.

The Arboform material also can be broken into pieces and recycled as a filler. Though it can’t be re-melted, he said, it can be burned just like wood.



http://theinquisition.eu/wordpress/2009/01/arborform/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081202115326.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28283260/

Watches

This "Wood Watch" wrist watch casing is made from Arboform "liquid wood".

Arboform shows very little mould shrinkage. So it allows very tight manufacturing tolerances to be met. Creep properties are good which is utilized in the constant pressure from the springs in the watch casing.

Unlike the use of plastics, which show sink marks in the situation, there is no problem in changing wall thicknesses from 1 mm to, for instance, as much as 50 mm in one step.

http://www.designinsite.dk/htmsider/k0076.htm

Sergio Rossi eco-pump

ECO-PUMP!

Sergio Rossi’s is a brand committed to ecological development and has taken the steps to design a pair of shoes that uses materials that are environmentally friendly and eco-sensitive.

Working in collaboration with German research institute, Fraunhofer Institut (where Arboform was developed) to show responsibility towards our planet, the new Sergio Rossi eco-pump has heels and soles that have been moulded in liquid wood (Arboform) and contains a low percentage of leather waste.

Sergio Rossi has taken a enormous leap forward in this design, also choosing tanners that are eco-sensitive and using bio-degradable material for both shoe and packaging.


http://www.butterboom.com/2009/06/04/sergio-rossi-ecopump/

http://www.sergiorossi.com/us/en/world/w_ecopump.aspx

breaking news!!

“In a few months’ time, we hope to start production of artists’ crayons and cosmetic pencils,” states Jürgen Pfitzer, who founded the company together with colleague Helmut Nägele in 1998. “Our close ties with the Fraunhofer Institute give us every confidence that our extruder will be able to achieve the required product quality.” At present, top-quality artists’ crayons are still manufactured from imported cedar wood, while lip and eyebrow pencils are generally made using conventional petroleum-based plastics.

http://www.ict.fraunhofer.de/


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How to purchase?

Arboform pellets prior to injection moulding



The original Arboform in coin form stamped with the TECHNARO trademark

TECNARO GmbH develops, produces and markets ARBOFORM



TECHNARO have been sourced for baby toys, furniture, castings for watches, designer loudspeakers (Arboform has wood-like acoustic qualities), golf tees that degrade on the course and even coffins.




Regular plastics cost between 70 cents and $3.20 per pound, the price for Arboform starts at $1.70 per pound. Technaro sell and produce Arboform products by commission. Their contact detail are as follows:

Technaro GmbH
Producer of Arboform® "liquid wood" using injection moulding.
Links www.arboform.org

Address Technaro GmbH
Am Goldberg 2
D-99817 Eisenach-Stedtfeld
Germany
Telefon +49 (0) 36 91 / 62 13 20 Telefax +49 (0) 36 91 / 62 13 29
e-Mail info@tecnaro.de



-Its environmental price tag is already hard to beat.


http://www.tecnaro.de/

European Inventor Award 2010 ceremony

Renamed the European Inventor Awards, the 2010 awards ceremony took place in Madrid, Spain on 28 April 2010. The winners were:

Jürgen Pfitzer and Helmut Nägele (Germany), in the SMEs/research category, who made a breakthrough by developing an easily formable, biodegradable organic polymer.

Albert Markendorf (Switzerland) and Raimund Loser (Germany), in the Industry category, whose portable 3D scanning and measuring system opened up a new level of accuracy in industrial measuring systems and revolutionised the field.

Sanjai Kohli and Steven Chen (USA), in the Non-European countries category (joint winners), whose work paved the way for GPS systems that are used commercially and are a part of our everyday lives.

Ben Wiens and Danny Epps, two Canadians who developed electrochemical fuel cells which are now a commercially successful alternative to fossil fuels, for which they too were honoured in the Non-European countries category (joint winners).

Wolfgang Krätschmer (Germany), who discovered a whole new field of research in physics, for which he was honoured in the Lifetime achievement category.

The ceremony at the Eurostars Tower Hotel was attended by Their Royal Highnesses Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Asturias.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Inventor_of_the_Year

Vids for the kids

Here is a great video for Arboform. This was filmed at the Technaro laboratory in Germany. Was very lucky to find this copy- only one in english!




Some highlights of the video are:

“After trying out many different things, we ended up sticking with lignin partly because it also fulfils other criteria among others it is widely available and is of consistent quality”

“They set up a firm in southern Germany where there produced the environmentally friendly plastic”

“The firms customers also include auto maker Porsche”

“We were starting with no business experience; we were scientists so we first had to learn how to run a company”

“We now have 16 employees”

“Strength and melting temperature are tested for each batch produced”

“It is completely biodegradable unlike all other practices”

The pair were awarded the 2010 European inventor prize.

Who created Arboform?

German Scientists Juergen Pfitzer and Helmut Naegele developed Arboform in the late 1990’s (with the help of Helmut Naegele, Norbert Eisenreich and Wilhelm Eckl and Emilia Inone-Kauffmann) at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT. .

They discovered that that lignin, a key ingredient in every piece of wood, when mixed the right way can be turned into a renewable plastic that is still biodegradable.


Lignin + resins + flax + other natural fibers = mass that can be processed like any other thermoplastic material.

“The cellulose industry separates wood into its three main components – lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose,” explains ICT team leader Emilia Regina Inone-Kauffmann. “The lignin is not needed in papermaking, however. Our colleagues at TECNARO mix lignin with fine natural fibers made of wood, hemp or flax and natural additives such as wax. From this, they produce plastic granulate that can be melted and injection-molded.”

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/12/081202115326.htm

The bio-plastic (arboform) can be molded via injection machines. It is durable and can be cast is precise detail.

Arboform

ARBOFORM® (arbor, Latin = the tree).

What is Arboform?
A new bio degradable material that can substitute plastic use

Arboform, created using Lignin (the by-product in pulp industry- paper creation etc), to create a replacement to plastic.

Lignin is the second most abundant natural polymer – 50 million tonnes per year created as a by-product to paper.

Arboform is durable, but still biodegradable.

http://www.tecnaro.de/english/arboform.htm