Scientists Just Made Transparent Wood That’s Stronger Than Glass

Ben Graham | May 16, 2016
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A group of scientists at the University of Maryland recently found a way to remove the complex organic polymer lignin, which is responsible for giving wood its customary appearance, creating what essentially amounts to transparent wood.

It’s a two-step process: first, the scientists boil the wood in a chemical mixture for two hours, flushing out that pesky lignin. The team then pours epoxy over the now transparent five-by-five-inch square of wood, making it four to five times stronger than before.

The result is a material that is both stronger and more insulating than glass, with better biodegradability than plastic. Also, the treated wood retains its structure and so delivers more light than traditional materials normally used in windows.

"In traditional material, the light gets scattered," wrote Liangbing Hu in Advanced Materials. "If you have this waveguide effect with wood, more light comes into your house.”

While this breakthrough is pretty great, it’s still limited by scientists' current inability to reproduce this effect with larger slabs of wood. Should they ever be able to jump that hurdle, we’re sure you can imagine the benefits of have a better insulated home that lets in more natural light.

Engadget also posits that the treated wood could be revolutionary for optical technology which includes things like microscopes, telescopes, and even lasers.

Below you’ll find a video of what Swedish researchers at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology were able to do with similar techniques.

 

 

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