An update on the science of materials was published by Nature in the United Kingdom on the 8th: Scientists in the United States have developed a new and simple method of making natural wood into high-performance structural materials. The newly emerged dense wood, whether it is strength, toughness , Or anti-ballistic performance, have outstanding performance, not only the quality is very light, durability is almost higher than all the current structure of metals and alloys.
In general, synthetic structural materials with extraordinary mechanical properties are relatively heavy, some are environmentally harmful, and some are expensive to manufacture (eg, polymer-based composites and biomimetic composites). In contrast, natural wood costs are low and resources It has been used as a structural material for many thousands of years in construction and furniture, and has always maintained its importance. However, the mechanical properties of wood are limited and often can not meet the needs of many advanced engineering structures and applications.
This time, a team of researchers from the University of Maryland, USA, developed a method of treating wood prior to densification of the wood surface, which densification of the wood surface is intended to significantly improve the dimensional stability and mechanical properties of the wood. In wet conditions, wood tends to soften if processed using the existing process, but the method developed by the team is unaffected.
Researchers have shown that removing some of the lignin and hemicellulose components prior to hot pressing can more effectively compress the wood, reducing the thickness by 80% and densifying up to three times the original density. Complete removal of lignin and hemicellulose results in poor material quality Therefore, researchers believe that part of the lignin must be retained for the purpose of bonding the wood, and the material made by this method possesses extremely outstanding strength, toughness and anti-elasticity properties, and is moisture-proof, lightweight, simple and cheap to process, and less damaging to the environment.
