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A US Department of Defense-funded project is developing new manufacturing technologies that use widely available natural fibres like silk and hemp instead of non-biodegradable man-made plastics. Natural Fibre Welding Inc. has developed a scalable fabrication platform that reformats natural fibres to create stronger and longer-lasting materials.
The company has developed a proprietary, closed-loop process that alters natural fibres at a molecular level, breaking them down and then ‘rebuilding’ them, without denaturing the polymers that make up the individual fibres. The process uses chemicals that are completely recovered during the process, the overall effect being to “glue” the fibres together without actually using any glue.