Science at theUM [S01-ep07]: From Flax Fibers to Eco-Friendly Packaging
This week, Olivier Arnould from the Mechanics and Civil Engineering Laboratory takes us back in time to talk about the durability of flax fibers. In the second half of the program, we’ll take you to the Agopolymer Industry and Emerging Technologies Laboratory with Valérie Guillard.
And today we’re connecting you to fibers. Forget about your internet connection—I’m talking here about artistic fibers, ancient fibers, and delicate fibers. I’m talking about linen fibers taken from a 4,000-year-old Egyptian burial shroud and from masterpieces painted in the 17th and 18th centuries. Why such desecration? Because today scientists have the tools to analyze these materials without damaging them, thereby freely pursuing their scientific inquiry.
A team of researchers studied the aging of flax fibers from burial linens and master paintings by examining their structure and biochemical changes using very high-resolution analytical methods. Does that sound complicated? Olivier Arnould of the Montpellier Laboratory of Mechanics and Civil Engineering participated in this study and explains how the results of these analyses—which examine the behavior and performance changes of the flax fibers—could help advance the design of more durable and robust eco-materials, a topic that’s very much in the news. The findings were published in *Nature* and the *Journal of Cultural Heritage*.
Read:
- CNRS Press Release: 4,000-Year-Old Egyptian Textiles Shed Light on the Durability of Flax Fibers.
- Article published in *Nature*: Melelli, A., Shah, DU, Hapsari, G., et al. Lessonson textile history and fiber durability from a 4,000-year-old Egyptian linen thread. Plants7,1200–1206 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-021-00998-
- INRAE Press Release: Studying the Webs of the Past to Understand the Aging of Eco-Materials of the Future
- FLOWER Project Website
In the second half of the show, we’ll take you to the Gaillarde campus—specifically to the IATE laboratory for Agopolymer Engineering and Emerging Technologies. Valérie Guillard welcomes us there to introduce us to a small revolution in the field of packaging: a food tray that looks just like plastic, but is completely biodegradable…
At "UM : Science," here's the lineup—let's get started!
Co-production: Divergence FM / University of Montpellier
Host: Lucie Lecherbonnier
Interview: Aline Périault / Lucie Lecherbonnier
Reporting and editing: Aline Périault
Director: Bruno Bertrand
Listen to the show “A l’UM la science” on Divergence FM 93.9
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