THE USADEL LAB

TEPHA@RWTH-Wissenschaftsnacht „5 vor 12“

Category: General  |  Date: Nov 2, 2016  |  Author: Julia Reimer

We will present results of our boost-fund project "Technical product harvesting" (TEPHA) funded by the exploratory research space (ERS) at “RWTH-Wissenschaftsnacht” on Friday (11th of November 2016).

TEPHA is an interdisciplinary research project together with engineers (Institut für allgemeine Konstruktionstechnik des Maschinenbaus, http://ikt.rwth-aachen.de), architects (Institut für Tragkonstruktion, http://www.trako.rwth-aachen.de) and bioecologists (Institut für Umweltforschung, http://www.bio5.rwth-aachen.de).

This project is focused on the utilization of near net shape grown organisms as technical products. The properties of plants and fungi are systematically investigated to evaluate their potential for technical applications.

As proof-of-concept, bamboo and calabash will be grown into almost rectangular shapes and analysed for their mechanical properties (e.g. tensile strength, pressure resistance). Additionally, growing the mycelium of a fungus into a given form is another approach of this project. Measurements of important material characteristics for engineers and architects will be carried out and the results of those experiments will be compared with finite element simulations. Subsequently, (microscopic and biochemical) analysis of the cell and cell wall behaviour in near net shape grown parts of the organisms will be analysed in comparison to natural occurring shapes.

In addition the user acceptance of near net shape grown products will be evaluated using an online survey (https://www.soscisurvey.de/TEPHA/)

 

For further information you can visit our presentation at RWTH-Wissenschaftsnacht „5 vor 12“

 

Friday, 11.11.2016

7 - 12pm

SuperC of the RWTH, Ford-Saal, floor 6

Templergraben 57, Aachen

 

or our homepage (www.ikt.rwth-aachen.de/tepha , @ http://ikt.rwth-aachen.de/forschung/forschungsprojekte/tepha.html).

 

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