Cell Phones Bodies Made from Corn and Fibers

Industry giant NEC, and textile make, Unikita are working together to develop cell phones bodies made from 90% corn.

The two firms successfully reinforced a polyactide resin, a bio-plastic made mainly from corn, by adding in fibers of kenaf, which is a type of hemp, the spokespeople said.

“Polyactide resin is an eco-friendly material as it can bio-degrade after being in the soil for a long time but the use of the material had been limited because it’s subject to heat and shock,” said Unitika spokesperson Yutaka Imura.

“But this new material is tough enough to be used for mobile phone bodies, which require considerable strength and heat resistance,” Imura said.
The two companies plan to mass-produce the material within a year for shipments of cellphones to be produced by NEC, the spokesperson said.

(Cf. news from Sept 16, 2004 and Oct 08, 2002.)

Source

Phonemag.com June 29, 2005.

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