elastopoli, application driven material manufacturing and tailoring possibilities of the new...
DESCRIPTION
Tonal Innovation Center (TONIC) hosted the second annual International Musical Instruments Seminar in Joensuu, Finland on 14th September- 16th September 2011.TRANSCRIPT
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