Sawdust-Created Biodegradable Casts
DART Lab's BioMatters Project Creates a Concrete Cast
Amy Duong — August 1, 2023
The researchers at the University of Michigan creates a new biodegradable concrete cast using sawdust as a means to mitigate wood waste as a part of the BioMatters project. The wooden material is a result of the project by DART Lab, which stands for Digital Architecture Research and Technologies. The team mixed the sawdust with biopolymers and additives in order to develop the material that can then be 3D printed or moulded into other shapes.
Researcher Muhammad Dayyen Khan explains that "It's like a precious material for me because you're cutting down a tree. I think every particle of that tree should be reused if you're cutting it down." Khan continues, explaining that the team has plans in place to create larger structures, stating that "some structures can be printed in a big warehouse and then you just turn them back up. Just rotate them 90 degrees and you've got a bigger structure."
