Authors:

Reece Avery Tippery

Date Created:

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About Paper:

Historically, electronic systems have been developed from rigid materials, limiting their use in certain applications, like healthcare and wearables which require soft materials that can more comfortably interact with biological organisms. While synthetic polymers have been used to fill these roles, they are often used in a disposable fashion and require the refinement of fossil fuels to produce. The electrical properties of fungal mycelium show promise in solving both of these issues, providing a renewable and soft material for use in electronics. However, their mechanical properties as bulk materials or with reinforcement remain to be characterized. In this study, shear rheometry was used to characterize the mechanical response of fungal mycelium in both small and large amplitude oscillatory shear and compression. Non-reinforced fungal mycelium showed a low degree of linear elasticity, and largely viscoelastic and poroelastic behavior under compression. Sodium polyacrylate reinforced mycelium gels showed improvement in both these areas, being more elastic and retaining water to a greater degree. These results indicate that while pure mycelium gels have the disadvantage of a small elastic regime and low water retention, these problems can be mitigated by polymer reinforcement. Keywords: Materials Science; Rheology; Gel; Wearable Technology

Source:

Purdue University / 2025

Topics:

No topics listed

Co-authors:

Reece Avery Tippery