SBIR Phase II: Manufacturing High Performance Natural Fiber Composites for Building Applications

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This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to develop and commercialize novel high-performance green composites for the exterior building materials market. These materials can address a $30 billion market opportunity with broad applications in many industries, including construction, automotive, defense, energy infrastructure, etc. This phase II effort will focus on developing exterior building materials with an estimated commercial potential of $882 million over the next five years. In addition, this new class of sustainable composites will provide multiple broader impacts including 1) significant weight and cost reductions to enable their use in structural components and fuel efficient vehicles; 2) improved water and ultraviolet (UV) resistance over conventional materials for green buildings that optimize the indoor environmental quality with lower maintenance costs; 3) stronger building materials and safer vehicle panels due to the high vibration damping and impact resistance of these composites; 4) the use of renewable resources for sustainable materials production to achieve energy and environmental efficiency; and 5) potential LEED credits and/or tax rebates to end users. The technical goal of this Phase II program is to determine full-scale production parameters, performance specifications, and quality control procedures for lightweight and high strength natural fiber composites to prepare for commercialization of these products for exterior building materials use. Two prototype products have been successfully developed through the Phase I effort to address the high cost and low durability of current building materials (e.g. plywood, fiber cement board) in these markets. The specific technical objectives of this program include determining the flexural rigidity of the composites through modeling and experimental work, optimizing product performance and cost, determining full-scale production parameters and quality control procedures, and conducting service life characterization of the final products. The technical results of this program will enable the production of a new class of green composites to create sustainable building materials, and provide a stronger value proposition to end users in the exterior building market.