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US 11,192,278 B2Granted
Mixture, a process and a mold for manufacturing recyclable and degradable articles
AssigneeCriaterra Innovations Ltd.
InventorAdital Ela
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The disclosed subject matter concerns earth based mixtures, methods of preparing mixtures, and a process of forming articles of manufacture, as well as a process of manufacturing articles in molds configured for compression molding of earth based mixtures in accordance with the disclosed subject matter, including mixtures containing one or more of, e.g., sand, silt, clay, minerals, or any combination thereof.
Claims13
A process for preparing a product, comprising the steps of:
- i) providing a fibrous mixture comprising:
- (a) at least one dry natural earth material selected from insoluble earth minerals, silt, sand, and any combination thereof,
- (b) at least one clay material,
- (c) at least one plant fiber material, and
- (d) a liquid present in an amount of at least about 20 wt % based on the weight of the fibrous mixture;
- ii) adding said fibrous mixture to a mold;
- iii) processing the fibrous mixture in said mold, the processing comprises:
- (a) heating, within the mold, the mixture to a temperature of between 60° C. to about 140° C., and
- (b) applying a predetermined compression pressure to the fibrous mixture within the mold;
- and
- iv) drying said fibrous mixture whereby said product is obtained,
- wherein said product has a bending strength of from about 4 MPa to about 7 MPa.
9 more elements
A molding process for molding an article of manufacture, comprising:
- i) providing a mold comprising
- a fluid sealable cavity configured for receiving and holding a fibrous mixture and substantially corresponding to a shape of the article of manufacture to be molded thereby, and
- at least one fluid duct comprising an inlet port and an outlet port, wherein at least the inlet port is in fluid communication with the fluid sealable cavity and at least one of the at least one fluid duct is configured for fluid extraction from the fluid sealable cavity;
- ii) providing a fibrous mixture comprising:
- (a) at least one dry natural earth material selected from insoluble earth minerals, silt, sand, and any combination thereof,
- (b) at least one clay material,
- (c) at least one plant fiber material, and
- (d) a liquid present in an amount of at least about 20 wt % based of the weight of the fibrous mixture;
- iii) introducing the fibrous mixture to the mold;
- iv) processing the mixture within the mold, the processing comprising heating, within the mold, the mixture to a temperature of between 60° C. to 140° C. under compression pressure of from 40 bar to about 120 bar applied over at least a part of the mold;
- and
- v) drying the fibrous mixture, whereby said article of manufacture is obtained, and whereby the article of manufacture has a bending strength between about 4 MPa to about 7 MPa.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.