Figure 2
From: Large-scale additive manufacturing with bioinspired cellulosic materials
Mechanical characteristics of fungus-like biomimetic materials. (a) Ashby plot showing the distribution of density and stiffness of natural and synthetic material commonly used in manufacture. Those relevant to this study have been highlighted, while the specific function of the fungus-like bioinspired material reported is labeled as “FLAM”. (b) Viscosity in terms of time for composites of variable amounts of chitosan. The highlighted area represents the range of viscosities suitable for manufacturing techniques, where the material can be extruded, and conform and retain a shape. (c) Determination of the optimal concentration regarding the balance between mechanical properties (tensile strength) and manufacturability (shrinking). (d) 3-point fracture test. Similar to other natural composites, the resulting material is designed for multifunctional structures, balancing strength and stiffness. The 100 × 16 × 6 mm and 3 g FLAM sample shows ductile characteristics; it holds 2.55 kg elastically, after that the internal structure starts to deform, resulting in failure when the load reaches 4.37 kg (Supplementary Movie 1).
