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IN-SITU SELF-ASSEMBLY FABRICATION
techniques for bacterial cellulose bio-composites
Self-assembling manufacturing for natural polymers is still in its infancy despite the urgent need for alternatives to fuel-based products. As a matter of fact, non-fuel based products, specifically bio-polymers possess exceptional mechanical properties and biodegradability. Bacterial cellulose has proven to be a remarkably versatile bio-polymer gaining attention in a wide variety of applied scientific applications such as electronics, biomedical devices, and tissue-engineering. In order to introduce bacterial cellulose as a building material it is important to develop bio-fabrication methodologies linked to material informed computational modelling and material-science. The emphasis of this paper lies on the development of three dimensional grown Bacterial Cellulose (BC) membranes for large scale applications introducing new manufacturing technologies, combining the fields of bio-materials science,digital fabrication and material-informed computational modelling. This paper demonstrates a novel method for bacterial cellulose bio-synthesis as well as in-situ self-assembly fabrication and scaffolding techniques that are able to control three dimensional shapes and material behaviour of BC. Furthermore it clarifies the factors affecting the bio-synthetic pathway of bacterial cellulose such as bacteria, environmental conditions, nutrients and growth medium, altering the mechanical properties, tensile strength and thickness of bacterial cellulose. The transformation of bio-synthesis of bacterial cellulose into BC based bio-composite leads to the creation of new materials with additional functionality and properties. Potential applications range from small architectural components to large structures, linking formation and materialisation achieving a material with specified ranges and gradient conditions, such as hydrophobic, hydrophilic capacity, graded mechanical properties over time, material responsiveness and biodegradability.
Info about the publication : http://papers.cumincad.org/data/works/att/acadia16_488.pdf