An Investigation on the use of Processed Hemp Fiber in Digital Fabrication

The world of hemp has been around for centuries, and now the industry (bio-composites, construction, among others) are looking at the possible applications of hemp in these areas. Hemp fibers are one of the strongest fragments of a hemp plant and can be processed to be used in different applications. The fibers also possess the qualities of an environmentally friendly material. Incorporating the use of technology through digital fabrication, can hemp fibers be digitally fabricated and still possess the qualities to be used in industry? Comparing the hemp fibers made up to replicate the form of prefabricated OSB (oriented strand board), tests were performed to create an engineering curve displaying data collected in four areas. The four areas of data collection were peak load, peak stress, strain at break, and modulus of GPa. The data results were compared in each category using a t-test to see if any significant difference was shown. The results showed that hemp fiber boards resulted in better performance in two of the four test areas. With data conclusions showing high standard deviation and variance, the researcher could not conclusively state that the hemp fibers proved to be more sustainable than the OSB boards for use in the industry