This project deals with the use of chitosan. Chitosan is a biopolymer with various fascinating characteristics which can be found as chitin in shellfish, molluscs, mushrooms and insects. Chitosan is produced from crab pulling scraps, what makes it a natural resource.
So far, chitosan is mostly used for temporary applications, for instance as a lubricant in the textile industry. This design is to introduce chitosan as an alternative to oil-based epoxy resin. When starting to experiment with chitosan foils, different characteristics where unveiled depending on the substance added. Sisalfibres for example made the foil more durable. While experimenting with chitosan as foil products, I found out that chitosan has exceptional adhesive properties which makes it suitable as a resin. Chitosan can keep up with common resins with an additional advantage: it is biodegradable. By mixing chitosan with sisal fibres, a helmet can be formed, laminating the fibre in thin layers. This helmet is an exemplary product which represents the vast possibilities chitosan offers as composite material or resin.
07/2017 at Bauhaus-Universität Weimar