Last time I blogged I talked about looking at other ways of making materials that were weak and fragile strong.   With this in mind I did some experiments based on the principle of layering and binding.   This is what happened.

 

 

 

These are photos of cardboard tubes from rolls of fabric.   Continuing on from the bamboo model, I decided to layer them again to make them stronger. As before with the bamboo, one tube on its own could bend, flatten and break but once layered they were stronger and could hold considerable weight.
In my research I was intrigued to find the Architect Shigeru Ban who had designed  a cardboard A framed  cathedral structure to replace the  Gothic style one damaged in the 2011 February earthquake  in New Zealand's Christchurch.  When I looked further I discovered he had done this several times before in other areas where disaster had struck, using cardboard tubes to build houses and temporary shelters.  In 2007 he even designed a bridge Remoulin in France, again using cardboard tubes.


Next I used crackers again layering.   As before one on its own was brittle and broke easily.   However once glued and layered they transformed into something stronger capable of holding weight.

My next experiment was with fabric.   In its original state it could be folded, squashed,squeezed, sewed, crumpled but always returned to its supple soft and floppy state.   So how was I going to make something as fragile as fabric rigid and strong.   I decided to roll and bind it and to strengthen it further I brushed it with PVA glue and hoped when it dried it would have a stronger rigid feel.  I also made bricks with it again using PVA but with shredded fabric and then binding with thread.   The thread was to hold everything together while it dried but it also added another layer of strength to them.

The drying process for both the fabric rolls and bricks was a long one, once dry the became light and rigid but also incredibly strong.  To test them I got Michael who weights 12stone 8lbs to stand on them.    They held firm and didn't flatten or break.