Design of a modular exhibition structure with additive manufacturing of eco-sustainable materials

In this paper the mechanical characteristics of an innovative bioplastic material, the HBP (R) - HempBioPlastic (R) filament, is investigated. HBP (R) was recently patented by an Italian company Kanesis that focused its activity on nature-derived materials. The filaments are the upshot of an original process allowing to reuse the surplus of the agricultural supply chains and transform it into new sustainable materials. At first, the 3D printed HBP (R) samples were tested in tensile tests according to the ASTM-D638 standard and monitored in term of deformations by the Digital Image Correlation techniques (DIC) in order to evaluate the stress-strain behavior of different HBP (R) textures under loading. In addition, using the HBP (R) and the results coming from the experimental campaign, the design of an exhibition pavilion was proposed. The pavilion was modelled starting from the geometric construction of the fullerene. The supporting modular structure is combined by HBP (R) modular elements, that can be produced by 3D printing or moulding. Finally, in order to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed pavilion, a linear finite element analysis is presented on the base of the experimentally determined mechanical properties of HBP (R) elements, under the effects of wind and seismic environmental actions.