The material expression of new pulp-fibre reinforced composites in relation to other material categories

To help bridge the gap between the science lab and commercial production there is a need for a better understanding of how new bio-based materials are perceived by users. The aim of the studies in this paper was to identify the material expression, sensorial properties and semantic dimensions of a group of pulp- fibre reinforced composites that are still in the research phase and how these relate to other, better-known materials already on the market. The studies involved 21 different materials, divided into different material groups such as metals, solid woods, wood fibre materials, plastic and fibre-reinforced composites in which the pulp-fibre reinforced composites were included. The materials were evaluated for meaning in a product semantic study and for sensory perception in a sensorial study. The results of the semantic study gave two underlining dimensions explaining most of the variations between the materials, Quality and Naturalness. These dimensions also had strong correlations to some of the sensorial properties. The results indicate that the pulp-fibre reinforced composites were not perceived as having high quality or expressing naturalness. They were hard to distinguish from the plastics in the study. The implications for further research and material development are discussed.