Smart powder and products
Plant biomass represents a quasi-unlimited reservoir of functional elements, which are buried within large macrostructure assemblies. Extreme comminution of plant materials is a way to reveal emergent functionalities that can be exploited in highly technical applications such as smart materials designed by additive manufacturing. This dramatic size reduction induces physical and chemical changes whose interconnections have not yet been investigated. The concept of the SMART POP project is to exploit them to prepare powders with enhanced functionalities and flowabilities. By stirring these powders into a polymeric matrix, the final aim is to design, using 4D-printing, environmentally friendly materials that can react to environmental stimuli. By using direct and reverse engineering approaches, the SMART POP project will explore two functionalities that the biomass powder could provide to the materials from grafted-molecules : a fluorescent response to an environmental stimulus and the control of the degradation of the matrix thanks to delayed acid hydrolysis reactions. These functionalities will be studied in close interaction with the different processing steps and related to flowability of the powder. The originality of the SMART POP project relies on a strong interdisciplinary (chemistry, physics, engineering, etc.). Its achievement will be possible thanks to the broad scientific background of Dr Claire Mayer-Laigle and the facilities & skills developed by the host team in SCION Institute (NZ) since more than 10 years. During the outgoing phase, the host team will train Dr Claire Mayer-Laigle to numerous additive manufacturing technologies and conjoint innovative developments are expected. The return phase in the beneficiary institute (INRA) will be devoted to the transfer of the acquired skills, the dissemination of the results, the creation of a strong network and the setting up of ambitious project to carry this thematic at the European level.