A new wonder material has been created from a surprisingly traditional source. Super wood is as robust as steel and six times lighter. Scientists put the material through its paces in ballistic tests and found that a specially laminated version can stop a projectile in its tracks

Super wood that is as robust as steel and six times lighter could be a renewable construction material for the future, according to scientists.
Planks of the reinforced lumber, which researchers have compared to carbon-fibre, could be used to create anything from buildings and cars to bullet proof jackets.
Scientists put the material through its paces in ballistic tests and found that a laminated version could even stop a projectile in its tracks.

Engineers at the University of Maryland created their super dense wood by boiling blocks of regular wood in a water-based solution, containing the chemicals sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfite.
This process removed organic compounds in the wood that give its structure and rigidity, making it more pliable.

It is similar to the initial stages of treating wood to create paper. 
The team then pressed the softened wood between two metal plates, heated to 100°C (212°F), at 50 times the atmospheric pressure of the Earth. 
By doing so, all of the gaps between cells in the wood were squeezed together.

The pressure creates a chemical bond between the atoms that make up the wood's cellular structure.
It shrunk the size of the block to around one fifth of its original thickness, increasing its density by 300 per cent. 


Liangbing Hu, who led the research, said: 'This new way to treat wood makes it 12 times stronger than natural wood and ten times tougher.
'This could be a competitor to steel or even titanium alloys, it is so strong and durable. 
'It's also comparable to carbon fiber, but much less expensive. 
The team tested the new wood material and natural wood by shooting bullet-like projectiles at it. 


Engineers at the University of Maryland created their super wood by boiling blocks of regular wood in a water-based solution containing the chemicals sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfite


This process removed organic compounds in the wood that give its structure and rigidity, making it more pliable. This image shows the treatment process used
This process removed organic compounds in the wood that give its structure and rigidity, making it more pliable. This image shows the treatment process used

The projectile blew straight through the natural wood, while a single layer of the treated wood slowed the projectile's progress.
A third laminated version, consisting of layers of five-layers of the densified wood, was penetrated by the projectile but stopped it from exiting.
Dr Hu's research team has explored the capacities of wood's natural nanotechnology in the past.

They have previously made a range of technologies out of nanocellulose related materials.
This has included super clear paper for replacing plastic, photonic paper for improving solar cell efficiency by 30 per cent and transparent wood for energy efficient buildings.
The full findings of the latest study were published in the journal Nature.

The pressure creates a chemical bond between the atoms that make up the wood's cellular structure. It shrunk the size of the block to around one fifth of its original thickness, increasing its density by 300 per cent. This image shows the changes in the various wood samples
The pressure creates a chemical bond between the atoms that make up the wood's cellular structure. It shrunk the size of the block to around one fifth of its original thickness, increasing its density by 300 per cent. This image shows the changes in the various wood samples

The team tested the new wood material and natural wood by shooting bullet-like projectiles at it. This image shows the results of those tests
The team tested the new wood material and natural wood by shooting bullet-like projectiles at it. This image shows the results of those tests

Scientists believe it could one day be used to make transparent conducting materials, biomedical sensors and even extremely light, yet strong, aircraft of the future.
Similar to another important nanomaterial - carbon nanotubes - graphene is incredibly strong - around 200 times stronger than structural steel.  
While notable for its thinness and unique electrical properties, it’s very difficult to create useful, three-dimensional materials out of graphene.
In January, 2017, a team of MIT researchers discovered that taking small flakes of graphene and fusing them following a mesh-like structure not only retains the material’s strength, but the graphene also remains porous. 
Based on experiments conducted on 3D printed models, they determined that this new material can be used to make objects 10 times stronger than steel, with only five per cent of its density.







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