• Revaluating Pine Bark
Material Form Function | Doctoral Program | Tree Bark

Revaluating Pine Bark

Research on the variety of possible shapes conducted at Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. Photo: Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten

Bark extracts solved in different aqueous solutions. Photo: Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten

Bark samples in water-glycerin mixture. Process developed by Charlett Wenig to keep pine bark durably flexible. Photo: Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten

Bark bag manufactured and assembled exclusively through folding and interlocking. Photo: Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten manufactured and assembled exclusively through folding and interlocking. Photo: Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten

»Revaluating Pine Bark« is a practice-based research project that aims to increase the value of pine bark and to present a variety of possible processing techniques and shapes that rise discussions and speculations about future use-cases. This is done by studying the material properties and through the development of holistic design concepts and artefacts.

As a waste product of the wood industry, large quantities of bark are burned, causing high CO2 emissions. Considering the current ecological crisis and the growing demand for renewable materials, bark could become an important resource for the future.The project focuses on techniques and concepts of folding and interlocking that are studied in a combination of basic research and design. This covers research on the chemical and structural level as well as on the level of material processing and form finding, with the aim to create objects that reconcile the expected use-phase with the life-span of the material.

The PhD project takes place within the research group Adaptive fibrous material lead by Dr. Michaela Eder at Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and is supervised by Prof. Dr. Dr.h.c. Peter Fratzl (Director at MPIGK).

Peeling pine bark from trees that were cut down for wood processing. Bark peeling is an ancient craft of a facinating simplicity. The tools used are a knife to cut the bark to the desired size and a wooden wedge to gently peel it of the stem. Photo: Pia Marx

Hosting University

Paris Lodron University Salzburg, Chemie und Physik der Materialien

Supervision

Dr. Michaela Eder (Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces)
Prof. Dr. Dr.h.c. Peter Fratzl (Director at Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces)
Mentor: Dr. Elisa Palomino

Research Period

Since 2022