ForMAX is specially designed for advanced studies on materials from the forest and is an initiative of several major players who have joined forces. The research station consists of a beamline where synchrotron X-ray light will be used to study the materials at the nano level up to the millimeter level.

The construction of the beamline has been funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, and the operating costs are funded by the industry through Treesearch, a Swedish national collaborative platform for academic and industrial research in new materials from the forest.

One goal of the investment is to be able to develop new products from materials from the forest that can, among other things, replace today’s plastic products.

“ForMAX will be very important for the fundamental academic research that is conducted on wood-based materials, which is the basis for the material applications that can then be developed”, says Eva Malmström Jonsson, director of the Wallenberg Wood Science Center, WWSC.

“This is a big step that will boost our knowledge about materials from renewable resources, such as wood, and support a wider use of fiber materials in packaging and other application areas”, says Mats Qvarford, Strategic Partnership Manager at Tetra Pak and member of the Treesearch board and ForMAX steering group. 

“Through the engagement in ForMAX, academia and industry have a fantastic access point to the MAX IV research environment. Through ForMAX, we are laying the foundation for broad, unique competence that enables ground-breaking research within the field”, says Daniel Söderberg, director of Treesearch.

Collaboration between academia and industry

ForMAX is part of the MAX IV research facility in Lund, Sweden, where the world’s strongest X-ray light for advanced research is produced.

The first experiments at ForMAX are performed by market-leading industry companies, including Tetra Pak, and researchers from the Wallenberg Wood Science Center.

“With ForMAX we aim to improve our understanding of the structure-function relationship in complex materials at multiple length scales, including novel materials from the forest, and food”, says Kim Nygård, manager of the ForMAX beamline at MAX IV.

“We hope that ForMAX will open the door to many new collaborations and important discoveries”, says Magnus Larsson, Head of Industrial Relations at MAX IV.