Brazil Will Manufacture Automovile Components Made of Fruit Fiber

What would you think if you heard that aluminum and steel components of cars can be replaced with fibers made from fruits such as banana, pineapple or coconut?.

Probably, it sounds illogical but it is possible. Brazil is preparing to revolutionize the automotive component material, integrating fruit fibers that apparently seem more fragile, but after being processed they can be used to reinforce common plastics, which would be more sustainable.

Brazil hopes to use nano-fibers of fruits in the construction of several autoparts such as dashboards, bumpers and side panels. The idea is being studied by a team from the University of São Paulo (Unesp) and was presented by Alcides Lopes Leao, a professor at Unesp, during a meeting sponsored by the American Chemical Society of the United States.
In the reunion held between Brazilian and American scholars, it was stressed that these fruit fibers are 30% and sometimes four times lighter and stronger.

To make the fruit fiber resistant, scientists put them in something like a pressure cooker, they add chemicals, heat the mixture several times until it produces a fine powder which when added to common plastic makes a superplastic, much more resistant to both heat and the spilling of liquids such as gasoline or acids on the car. This transformation of fruits in plastic can even replace steel, but its price is quite high, however with a kilo of the superplastic material, it is possible to get back 100 kilos of lighter and durable plastic.

According to Lopes Leao, many cars will go to market with a number of external components made ​​from fruits within two years.

Source: El País