Valorisation of freshwater weeds biomass to produce bio-based composites through do-it-yourself approach

Bio-based composites have gained increasing attention in recent years due to the rising of ecological and sustainability consciousness in disciplines of material science and design practice. Opportunities offered by organic waste and by-products as reinforcing fillers for polymer blends are investigated to improve properties of bio-based material with the aim to replace fossil-based plastics. This study focused on the reuse of freshwater weeds biomass as filler for bio-based composite materials obtained using only natural and biodegradable components for matrices. The freshwater weeds biomass involved in this study was mainly composed by the invasive plant species Elodea nuttallii collected during environmental management practices of Po River in the city of Turin (Italy). The study was performed in the framework of Material-Driven Design using the do-it-yourself (DIY) approach to explore opportunities offered by 27 different protocols defined to create bio-based composites. Material Tinkering was adopted as practice to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of prototypes obtained from abovementioned 27 bio-composites in order to select those that presented elastic behaviour of rubber materials. At the end, a single prototype was selected as the most promising that showed rubber-like characteristics. This prototype was characterised through tensile testing and dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) to determine their physical and thermal characteristics. The study discusses opportunities and criticalities presented by all 27 bio-composites obtained through DIY approach and evaluated through Material Tinkering, and it suggests potential design applications for the selected rubber-like bio-composite based on its mechanical and thermal properties. • 27 protocols defined through DIY approach to obtain bio-based materials with elastic behaviour. • Material Tinkering is an explorative tool to evaluate opportunities offered by handcraft materials. • Freshwater weeds biomass can be used as filler of rubber-like bio-composite material. • Selected bio-composite material presents promising properties for costumer products. • The bio-composite formulation can be improved using other bio-based fibres waste as fillers.