Our recently developed cost-effective technology for creating bamboo fiber reinforced composite sheets and for forming these sheets into components meets these needs. Among natural fibers, bamboo fibers exhibit the highest strength in uniaxial loading (32 GPa). These fibers, in combination with a thermoplastic matrix, lead to significant benefits: a weight reduction of 30% compared to glass fiber composites, a price of $2 per pound of manufactured component, high strength in bi-axial loading combined with high strain limit, a potential for mass production of components by using our high productivity forming process. Also, our forming process for these materials leverages existing equipment for metal sheets, thus requiring very low capital investment.
Ghana Bamboo Bicycle
ME450 Project
Hunter Benitez
Nina Janjic
Francine Penikis
Chris Yates