S. Vishnu Sharma
IIT Guwahati researchers developed an eco-friendly composite material made of ‘Bambusa tulda’, a fast-growing bamboo species in Northeast India, combined with biodegradable polymers.
Due to its properties such as, high strength, thermal stability, low moisture absorption and cost effectiveness, the developed composite is a suitable replacement of conventional plastics used in automotive interiors.
Department of Mechanical Engineering at IIT Guwahati
Led by Dr. Poonam Kumari, Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, the research not only addresses the problem of plastic waste, but also provides a solution to the growing global demand for greener materials, particularly in automotive manufacturing industries.
IIT Guwahati researchers
The findings of this research have been published in the prestigious journal, Environment, Development and Sustainability (Springer Nature), in a paper co-authored by Prof. Poonam Kumari, along with her research scholars Mr. Abir Saha and Mr. Nikhil Dilip Kulkarni from IIT Guwahati.
Testing by IIT Guwahati researchers
IIT Guwahati researchers tested four bamboo-based composite formulations consisting of Bambusa tulda fibers reinforced with bio-based or petroleum-based epoxies.
By treating the bamboo fibers with alkali, the team improved its compatibility with the base polymer resulting in enhanced durability for real-world use.
The developed formulations were then evaluated on 17 different parameters to test their tensile strength, thermal resistance, impact durability, water absorption and cost per kilogram, among others.
MCDM
While these formulations had distinct strength, none of them had all the properties to provide a balanced and high performing option, say IIT Guwahati researchers.
To identify the same, the team used Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM), a structured evaluation method.
The results observed bamboo composite made with bio-based epoxy FormuLite as the best performing option with low moisture absorption, significant thermal stability, and mechanical strength.
The cost-effective nature of the composite, priced at Rs. 4300 per kilogram, makes it an eco-friendly solution for automotive parts, such as, vehicle dashboards, door panels and seat backs, among others, say sources from IIT Guwahati.
Developed composite
Dr. Poonam Kumari said developed composite can be used for designing components/parts in consumer electronics, automobiles, aerospace, sustainable building materials etc.
The product will replace wood/iron/plastic components and will have similar cost and lead to fulfil SGD goals (7,8 and 9). This development is in line with Make in India policy under Green Tech Revolution, said Prof Poonam of IIT Guwahati.
IIT Guwahati team
The team is currently conducting a full life cycle assessment of the developed composite to measure its environmental impact from production to disposal.
As the next step, the research team is planning to apply industrial techniques such as compression modelling and resign transfer to scale up the production.
About IIT Guwahati
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, established in 1994, completed 25 years of glorious existence in 2019. At present, the Institute has eleven departments, nine interdisciplinary academic centres and five schools.
They are covering all the major engineering, science, healthcare, management, and humanities disciplines, offering BTech, BDes, BSc(Hons), MA, MDes, MTech, MSc, MS(R), MBA and PhD programmes.
The institute offers a residential campus to 455 faculty members and more than 8,600 students at present.
IIT Guwahati has retained the 7th position among the best engineering institutions of the country, 9th position in ‘Overall’ and 10th position in ‘Research’ Categories in the ‘India Rankings 2024’ declared by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) of the Union Ministry of Education.
IIT Guwahati has achieved rank 87 in the SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure) globally in the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2024 and is the only academic institution in India that occupied a place among the top 100 world universities – under 50 years of age – ranked by London-based Times Higher Education (THE) in 2014 and continues to maintain its superior position even today in various International Rankings.
IIT Guwahati gained rank 42 globally in the ‘Research Citations per Faculty’ category and overall 334 rank in the QS World University Rankings 2026.
Among other frontier areas of research and innovation, IIT Guwahati is working towards augmenting critical science research initiatives in Genomics, Developmental Biology, Health Care and Bioinformatics and Flexible Electronics, among numerous other areas.
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