A Game-Changing Invention That Could Outmuscle Steel and Save the Planet

historic invention you might not have heard of, but if it succeeds and becomes easy to produce and affordable, it will drastically change the fight against carbon emissions.

In 2018, a scientist named Liangbing Hu... discovered a way to make wood much stronger than steel. But of course, since he's a scientist and not a businessman, he was working on his own. Over time, he managed to reduce the process from taking weeks to just hours.

Finally, he sold this patent to a company called InventWood, and this summer, the company will start producing this type of wood. Initially, it will be used to cover buildings rather than for interior use.

How is this wood made?

Regular wood contains cellulose and lignin. They focused on cellulose—the same material used to make paper—because it’s already super strong and found in trees and plants. It’s basically the part that gives the plant its structure.

First, they used synthetic materials that are also used in food manufacturing to alter the structure of the wood. Then, they compressed the wood with high pressure to bring the cellulose molecules closer together (which are already strong by nature), and that created extremely strong hydrogen bonds.

And this made the wood 50% stronger than steel in terms of tensile strength! It’s also much lighter, resistant to decay, insects, and fire.

It’s been called Super Wood.

This will have a massive impact on the fight against carbon emissions, since around 90% of carbon impact comes from using steel and concrete in construction. So using a wood like this would greatly reduce carbon emissions.

Source:
InventWood is about to mass-produce wood that’s stronger than steel | TechCrunch