According to the Max Planck institute and DGNB (German Sustainable Building Council), the construction industry is responsible for more than 38% of CO² emissions worldwide. Furthermore, 80-90% of these resources are used in buildings. Additionally, after a building's life cycle, only a minor part of the demolition waste is fully recyclable and causes the most significant impact on landfills. These facts make an urgent demand obvious for innovative bio-based and non-mineral construction materials with controlled properties, applicable also for load-bearing structures. The development of innovative, cradle-to-cradle materials based on fungal mycelium could partly replace traditional oil-based construction materials, e.g., thermal insulation, lightweight fill, or noise absorption. In order to achieve a mycelium-based composite material with controlled mechanical characteristics with adequate performance, further research on the symbiotic combination of mycelium and lignocellulosic substrates is needed. Also, the development of composite material models (Werkstoffstrukturmodelle) enables basic configurations as a conglomerate composite material and a systematic material design based on the three components: mycelium, timber as substrate, and aggregates.

Mycelium-based composite materials combine lignocellulosic substrates with the vegetative component of filamentous fungi. As filamentous fungi grow, they form hyphae, which result in a closemeshed network and give the resulting material a solid structure, carrying compressive and minortensile stresses. Fungi belonging to the genus Basidiomycetes, such as Ganoderma lucidum, Ganoderma applanatum, or Fomes fomentarius, are commonly found in forests and fulfill the task of decomposing deciduous wood. The use of wood as a substrate for the bio-fabrication of mycelium-based composites represents a significant advantage to the circular economy, by o.g. extending the life cycle of old wood or o.g. using wood waste from the carpentry industry. 

MycoMatrix is an ongoing research project that aims to optimize materials' manufacturing methods based on lignocellulose and fungal mycelium and various strategies for influencing hyphal growth and its meshing. The last-mentioned supports the central goal of this research: the development of mycelium-based materials with high mechanical performance to be applied to load-bearing building components.

References

[1] D. Saez; D. Grizmann; M. Trautz; A. Werner Analyzing a fungal mycelium and chipped wood composite for use in construction, 2021, proceedings of the IASS Annual Symposium 2020/21

[2] D. Saez; D. Grizmann; M. Trautz; A. Werner Developing Sandwich Panels with a Mid-layer of Fungal Mycelium Composite for a Timber Panel Construction System, WCTE, 2021, 2021-08-09 - 2021-08-12, Santiago, Chile

[3] M. Trautz, 2017. Das Dehnungs‐und Tragverhalten von Brettschichtholz beim Lasteintrag durch Vollgewindeschrauben. Bautechnik, 94(11), pp.776-789.