Tuesday 24 May 2016

incident and diffusion or the worshipful company of carpenters

When I first read about the Royal Institute of Stockholm having engineered transparent wood—that could eventually replace windows and the glass of solar panels, I was bit sceptical as the announcement coincided with April Fools’ Day and was proud of myself for having not been taken and falling prey to a prank.
Now the development is confirmed, however, with the process of chemically stripping the lignin (which is the stuff of paper pulp) and replacing it with an epoxy, a strengthening agent, being reproduced by a team at the University of Maryland. As a natural insulator, replacing pains and other architectural materials with see-through wood could see immense savings in climate-control, not to mention industrial costs buried in extraction and refining. Can you think of other applications for this rather amazing sounding treated timber?