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Ultra compact wood

08.08.2019

Scientists from the University of Maryland at College Park have discovered a technology for producing a new highly functional structural material from wood that has impressive properties.

"Ultra-compact wood" is formed by boiling a wooden block in an aqueous solution of sodium sulfite with the addition of sodium alkali. In this case, a partial removal of strong structural polysaccharides, lignin and hemicellulose from the wood occurs. It would seem that this should weaken it, but then the sample is compressed between the metal plates of the press (again at a temperature of 100 °C) under a pressure of 5 MPa, i.e., about 50 atmospheres. This impact crushes the remaining most stable polymers, reducing the sample by about 20 percent and making it three times as dense.

Experiments with this material showed that it can withstand tensile loads 11,5 times greater than untreated samples of the original wood. In fact, this figure is comparable to the properties of good steel, while "ultra-compact wood" remains much lighter than it. But the demonstration of its "bulletproof" characteristics was especially effective. The video shows that a projectile moving at a speed of 30 m / s easily pierces ordinary wood, but is delayed by a layer of "ultra-compact wood" of the same thickness.

The authors add that the detailed composition of the solution for obtaining a new material depends on the type of original wood, but in any case does not include either expensive or environmentally hazardous substances.

"Ultra-compact wood" can be a suitable "green" alternative to traditional steels for the construction of buildings and even bridges, car bodies and railway cars.

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