In partnership with a laboratory, the giant of food packaging Tetra Pak launches a major research to analyze the material of inefficient scales and find new packaging based on fiber.
This laboratory, Max IV, based in Lund, Sweden, has a brand new research station dedicated to the study of materials from the forest. Called ForMax, this unit consists of a line of light beams where synchrotron radiation is used to study materials from the nanometric to the millimeter level.
ForMax aims to improve the understanding of the structure-function relationship in complex materials at multiple length scales, including forest and food materials, in order to develop products that can replace plastics.
Tetra Pak's first experiment is conducted on paper straws. The laboratory will analyze how the paper straw material reacts to changes in the environment and to different types of liquids.
This project is the very first industrial research and development experiment conducted at ForMax.
Fundamental understanding of the structure at the heart of the project
"ForMax will be very important for the fundamental academic research conducted on wood-based materials, which is the basis for the material applications that can then be developed." eva Malmström Jonsson, director of the Wallenberg Wood Science Center, WWSC, which is collaborating on the project, assures us.
"A fundamental understanding of the structure and properties of materials is crucial in the development of the packaging of the future." says Eva Gustavsson, vice president of Tetra Pak's Materials and Packaging Division. She says the packaging of the future must be fully recyclable and have a low environmental impact, while remaining safe for food and resistant to liquids and moisture.
