Application driven material manufacturing and tailoring

possibilities of the new material

Short recap 2010

Natural fibers

Fibers

• Layered structuresLayered structures

• Natural glue polymersNatural glue polymers

• Length ~0,5 – 2 mmLength ~0,5 – 2 mm

• Fibrillous surfacesFibrillous surfaces that entangle and that entangle and agglomerate easily agglomerate easily

• HydrophilicHydrophilic

Natural fiber composites

++ Cellulose PlasticsCellulose Plastics

++ Water OilWater Oil

Elastopoli natural fiber composites

• Patented (pending) Wet Phase manufacturing process

• Key is to build wet phase compatibility between plastics and cellulose

• Prevent OH-bonding and hornification and later reagglomeration in injection molding

• Result: 40% better mechanical properties in Flaxwood guitars

• Better and more vintage sound

How is it done?

NFC

NFC is ”mouldable wood” with at least the same amount of wood fiber as wood itself

WASHING REPLACEMENTWOOD

Material manufacturing

• Wood fiber amount same or more than with normal tone wood

• Mouldble

• Opens a new production process for instrument building

State of the art

Imitating tone woods

• How far do we want to take imitation???

• Appearance

• Sound

• Flaws??

• Additional qualities

Matching

density• Alder ~0.5

• Ash ~0.7

• Rosewood ~0.9

• Ebony ~1.2

• Blackwood ~1.4

Color

Coloring

• Color range from light brownish to pitch black (ebony)

• Wood grains -look needs two colors and right production technology

• Random multi coloring easier

• Effect of coloring to tonal qualities need to tested case by case

Density

• Realistic at the moment 1.2 – 1.5

• Creating porosity may weaken the product

• Since the material is heavier – other means of making the instrument lighter are available

Structural possibilities

Handmade Classical Guitars by Fritz Mueller

www.classicalguitars.ca

Structural possibilities

• The material allows more complex design without exceeding budget or manufacturing costs

• Ribs, cavities even honeycomb structures can save weight, give more stiffness and create new tonal possibilities

• Everyday ”tricks of the trade” in injection molding world – tested & proven

Example: Honeycomb

• Significantly more power and volume• Excellent projection • Exceptional balance and note-to-note

evenness • Excellent clarity and separation of notes • Excellent sustain• An extremely responsive instrument that

reacts to the lightest touch, yet can also be pushed hard without breaking up the sound;

• A rich, meaningful guitar sound with powerful, firm basses and brilliant trebles.

Handmade Classical Guitars by Fritz Mueller

www.classicalguitars.ca

• NFC should not be regarded as wood but a new material family that has acoustic properties that compare to wood

• Designing instrument from NCF gives instrument manufacturers new process and tonal possibilities that have not existed before

• NFC works well with traditional tone woods and is a new possibility in luthiers toolbox, not just a replacement