The benefit of this corn-based bioplastic is that it is lighter and would essentially run cooler than standard build practices. Laptops, for instance, wouldn't need to be burdened with the added weight of stainless steel heat releasing sheets or fans. Mobile phones would see an improvement in weight and heat generation if incorporated with this new plastic.
NEC hopes to replace most of the current plastic with its bioplastic by 2010 and has already begun using plastic made of fermented corn and kenaf fiber in phones in March of last year.
"Cost is still a bottleneck, but we hope to continue lowering bioplastic costs and add value so that other makers will also follow suit," said Shuichi Tahara, general manager of NEC's Nano Electronics Research Laboratories.
The new plastic is cheaper than other fiber-reinforced plastics as it requires less carbon fiber to produce, but it still remains more expensive than stainless steel.
Source:
Reuters
Written by: Dave Horvath @ 9 Apr 2007 9:13
