Is ‘wood foam’ the next big innovation for packaging?

Packaging Buzz just covered five innovation trends occurring right now in packaging. But what’s in store for the future? Well, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research have developed a method for creating foam from wood particles for the construction industry. But this innovation could very well eventually serve as a replacement material in other areas, such as packaging, according to the researchers.

“Our wood foam can be used in exactly the same way as conventional plastic spray foams, but is an entirely natural product made from sustainable raw materials,” said Professor Volker Thole of the WKI. The scientists produce the foam by grinding wood very finely until the tiny wood particles become a slimy mass. They then add gas to this suspension to expand it into a frothy foam that is then hardened. The hardening process is aided by natural substances contained in the wood itself. In an alternative method, specific chemical processes are used to produce the final product. “It’s a bit like baking, when the dough rises and becomes firm in the oven,” Professor Thole explains. Wood foam is a lightweight base material that can then be made into rigid foam boards and flexible foam mats.

Wood-based insulation materials are nothing new, but the products that are currently available have drawbacks, the researchers said. For instance, mats made from wood fibers and wood wool tend to shed fibers as they fibrillate and are less stable in shape than insulation materials made of plastic. “Over time, the currently used insulation mats made of wood fibers tend to sink in the middle due to temperature fluctuations and damp. This to some extend adversely affects its insulating properties,” said Professor Thole. The wood foam developed at the WKI, however, is every bit as good as conventional plastic foams in this regard. “We analyzed our foam products in accordance with the applicable standards for insulation materials. Results were very promising; our products scored highly in terms of their thermo-insulating and mechanical properties as well as their hygric, or moisture-related, characteristics,” he said.

The Braunschweig-based scientists are currently experimenting with different types of wood to discover which tree species make the best basis for their product. Furthermore, they are working out suitable processes for mass-producing wood foams on an industrial scale. Specifically, packaging materials made from wood foam would provide a long-term alternative to yet another oil-based product: expanded polystyrene, the researchers stated.

We’ll keep a close eye on this one.

Source: Packaging Buzz (http://goo.gl/rI4m1P)