Transparent wood could replace glass one day -

Geeko

Researchers at the University of Maryland have just developed a new process to make wood transparent.

If the concept is not innovative - many scientists have already succeeded, but some processes are far from ecological - the method used here in a way revolutionizes the process of transformation.

Traditionally, to make wood transparent, it is dipped in several chemicals to remove lignin, one of the components of wood along with cellulose and hemicellulose.

This process is very long and produces a lot of liquid waste.

In addition, it makes the wood less resistant.

An ingenious process

The solution devised by researchers at the University of Maryland makes it possible to conserve lignin during wood processing and therefore, part of its resistance.

The process involves applying a solution of hydrogen peroxide to wooden planks one millimeter thick and letting them dry in the sun or under a UV lamp, so that they turn white.

They are then soaked in ethanol to remove dirt, then impregnated with a tough transparent epoxy resin designed for marine use.

This substance makes it possible to fill the spaces and the pores of the wood, in order to harden it while making it transparent.

The epoxy resin indeed allows the wood to let 90% of the light.

Thanks to this process, the strength and flexibility of wood are preserved while enjoying a transparency close to that of glass.

According to the researchers, the wood they treated is 50 times stronger than other transparent woods whose lignin has been removed.

The process developed by researchers at the University of Maryland could be the solution to making transparent wood truly a building material.

If several scientists have already achieved the same result, the methods used did not make it possible to make transparent wood possible for construction, because they were too polluting or too complicated.

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