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Shives, also known as shoves, boon or hurd, are the wooden refuse removed during processing flax, hemp, or jute, as opposed to the fibres (tow). Shives consist of "the woody inner portion of the hemp stalk, broken into pieces and separated from the fiber in the processes of breaking and scutching" and "correspond to the shives in flax, but are coarser and usually softer in texture". Shives are a by-product of fiber production.
Therefore, engineering studies have investigated whether a coating with a water-repellent thin film provides the desired benefits. For the hydrophobic coating with silica particles, a [[colloid]]al sol-gel dispersion was successfully synthesized by the Stöber process, characterized and deposited on hemp shive. These samples passed a 72-hour test in the humidity chamber without loss of their hydrophobic property and no signs of mold growth.
When hemp shive was coated several times with functionalized silica particles, uniform and complete coverage of the surface was achieved. The treatment provided the hemp shive with comprehensive water repellency: the hydrophilic character of the untreated hemp shive was modified to durably hydrophobic, once the bio-materials were coated with functionalised silica particles. Mould growth was delayed during exposure to humidity, whilst the liquid water repellent property of the treated hemp shive was maintained despite the humid conditions. The treatment developed in this study could be a viable solution for use on bio-materials that need to repel liquid water, whilst preserving the integrity of the insulation panel in common environmental conditions. There are of course still further tests to be carried out before adopting this treatment in the construction sector, such as additional moisture, mechanical, and biodegradation tests. However, the promising results described here give a good first assessment of feasibility. Before being fully adopted in the construction sector, these treatments and materials must be fully tested in accordance with the building codes. In addition, with the recent use of biomaterials, new standards and test methods for these specific materials should be developed.
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