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Wood-substitute developed from natural fibre composites

20 Sep '12

2 min read

A MoU signed between Kerala Furniture Consortium Pvt Ltd (Kurichilakkode, Kodanaad PO, Perumbavoor, Ernakulam Dist, Kerala) and National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology –Thiruvananthapuram, one of the constituent laboratories of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for commercialising NIIST technology for making wood-substitute from natural fibre composites. CSIR-NIIST has been a pioneer in the research of natural fibre composites for more than two decades. The said natural fibre composites are thermo-set moldable.

Kerala Furniture Consortium Pvt. Ltd. (KFCPL) is one of the seven (7) clusters of India benchmarked by the National Innovation Council, under the chairmanship of Mr. Sam Pitroda. It is a Common Facility Centre (CFC) to pursue seasoning, designing, standardization, testing and finishing rubber woods for manufacturing furniture.

KFCPL as an Innovation cluster, of national importance, is dedicated to develop patented alternate substitutes for the deficient rainforest hardwood, as part of its stringent environment policy. The cluster is destined to boost innovation and competitiveness in MSME sector in the state by upgrading the quality of the furniture and related industry business environment.

A natural fibre polymer composite christened “polycoir” developed by CSIR-NIIST is very suitable as a substitute for wood-based or alternative products. The process for making “polycoir” utilises coir fibre as well as other natural fibres such as banana, jute, sisal etc. According to Dr. Suresh Das, Director, CSIR-NIIST there is great potential for employing many unutilised or underutilised lingo-cellulosic fibres for making composite material.

The material can be engineered as per requirement and it possesses several unique properties like fire resistance, termite resistance and water resistance. Surface properties as well as physical and mechanical attributes may be fine tuned as per requirement.

KFCPL now joins hands with CSIR-NIIST for employing natural resources in the making of alternate materials, which can substitute wood. According to the MoU, the coir composite developed by CSIR-NIIST will be adopted by KFCPL as a raw material to be used as an alternative substitute for hardwood. Further technical development required for commercialization of fibre composites will be undertaken jointly between CSIR-NIIST and KFCPL.

The composite will be metamorphed by KFCPL into unique design formats of furniture and accessories on market requirements. Shri. K.P. Raveendran, Managing Director of KFCPL said that they would bring out a range of knockdown furniture series by the end of this year.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

Construction Textiles

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Wood-substitute developed from natural fibre composites

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