Casted Wood - Tactile and Visual Aspects When Target Areas Are in Indoor Applications

Abstract

The most relevant senses to collect information are sight and touch, as these senses parse the world through feedback of materials, colours, shapes and structures. This paper aims to understand potentials in relation to the tangible and intangible properties of the combination of wood and cellulose nanofibrils (later CNF), when future target products are in a living environment, mostly in indoor applications. Different sizes of wood flour, sawdust or veneer-like pieces of wood have been mixed together with CNF to make material samples and designed pieces. Due to the strong hydrogen bonds and adhesivelike characteristics of CNF, adhesives or glue is not needed to bind materials together and, therefore, does not affect the consistency or visuality. One of the specific benefits is that the wet material does not need to be hot pressed, because during the drying period the material tightens itself. Haptic properties, such as surface temperature and texture, can be similar to wood-based products in general. Pieces can be lightweight, because the density of the material varies depending on the proportions of the ingredients. As a result, different kinds of surface structures, colours, haptic properties and visuality can be designed, varying the consistency and proportion of the materials. A mixture of wooden pieces and CNF could be manufactured into boards, but in this research, the main focus has been to understand the potentials of the casting technique to shape the material. The selected shaping method enables a new kind of method to work with wood-based materials. Although the combination of these materials has been studied, it is unknown if this has been done using methods of design research. In the future, casted wood could be utilised e.g. in indoor applications, such as furniture or architecturally related products when three-dimensional shapes are needed with natural tactile and visual appearance.