Corn construction refers to the use of corn (maize) in

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

. The tassel, leaf, silk, cob in husks, and the stalk are the parts of corn. According to the Michigan Department of Agriculture, "corn can be made into fuel, abrasives, solvents, charcoal, animal feed, bedding for animals, insulation, adhesives, and more. The kernel is used as oil, bran, starch, glutamates, animal feed, and solvents. The silk is combined with other parts of the corn plant to be used as part of animal feed,

silage Silage is fodder made from green foliage crops which have been preserved by fermentation (food), fermentation to the point of souring. It is fed to cattle, sheep and other ruminants. The fermentation and storage process is called ''ensilage'', ' ...

, and fuels. Husks are made into dolls and used as filling materials. The stalk is used to make paper, wallboard, silage, syrup, and

rayon Rayon, also called viscose and commercialised in some countries as sabra silk or cactus silk, is a semi-synthetic fiber made from natural sources of regenerated cellulose fiber, cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products. It has t ...

(artificial silk)."Michigan Department of Agriculture
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History

Corn has long been used in manufacturing. There were a number innovations in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the early 1900s. For example,

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

's conceptual Model U car featured tires with corn-based filler and a corn-based fabric roof. The Corn Palace, a building in Mitchell, South Dakota, is decorated with murals and designs made from corn and other grains.

Materials

Husks

The outer

husk Husk (or hull) in botany is the outer shell or coating of a seed. In the United States, the term husk often refers to the leafy outer covering of an Ear (botany), ear of maize (corn) as it grows on the plant. Literally, a husk or hull includes t ...

of corn can be used to make corn husk

doll A doll is a physical model, model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and ...

txalaparta The txalaparta ( or ) is a specialized Basque music device of wood or stone. In some regions of the Basque Country, (with ) means "racket", while in others (in Navarre) has been attested as meaning the trot of the horse, a sense closely relat ...

musical instruments, and other crafts. Husks are used as the wrapper for

tamale A tamale, in Spanish language, Spanish , is a traditional Mesoamerican dish made of ''masa'', a dough made from nixtamalization, nixtamalized maize, corn, which is steaming, steamed in a corn husk or Banana leaf, banana leaves. The wrapping ...

s. The husk is also used in South American countries as a cigarette

rolling paper Rolling paper is a specialty paper used for making cigarettes (commercially manufactured filter cigarettes and individually made roll-your-own cigarettes). Rolling papers are packs of several cigarette-size sheets, often folded inside a cardbo ...

Corncobs

Corncob A corncob, also called corn cob or cob of corn, is the hard core of an ear of maize, bearing the kernels, made up of the chaff, woody ring, and pith. Corncobs contain mainly cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. However, during several instance ...

s, the core of corn ears, are very absorbent. They have been used to make inexpensive

smoking pipe A smoking pipe, often simply referred to as a pipe, is used to inhale (or taste) the smoke of a burning substance, typically (though not exclusively) used to consume a Psychoactive drug, psychoactive substance; this most commonly refers to a to ...

s, and to transport various materials. Ground corn cobs make an effective blasting media, are friendly to the environment, and delicate while maintaining abrasive capacity. Corncobs are increasingly being used as a low-cost,

environmentally friendly Environment friendly processes, or environmental-friendly processes (also referred to as eco-friendly, nature-friendly, and green), are sustainability and marketing terms referring to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies that c ...

insulation material for houses.

Cornstarch

Goodyear BioTRED tires are made using a biologic polymer derived from

cornstarch Cornflour, cornstarch, maize starch, or corn starch (American English) is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thicken s ...

as the filler.

Corn kernels

Corn kernel burning stoves have found increasing popularity following the rise in natural gas and fuel oil prices. Large corn furnaces are capable of heating any size building, and fueling generators to produce electricity. Corn kernels are a natural pellet, which makes corn less expensive and more readily available than wood byproduct pellets. Manufactured pellets sold out in 2005, while corn is readily available for a much better price. Heat savings go up to 75% over natural gas or fuel oil.

Plastics

Recently, corn has been used to make

biodegradable Biodegradation is the breakdown of organic matter by microorganisms, such as bacteria and fungi. It is generally assumed to be a natural process, which differentiates it from composting. Composting is a human-driven process in which biodegrada ...

containers. Corn can be used to create non-

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic polymers, synthetic or Semisynthesis, semisynthetic materials composed primarily of Polymer, polymers. Their defining characteristic, Plasticity (physics), plasticity, allows them to be Injection moulding ...

, which is often compostable.

References

{{corn Maize Building materials