News in Brief Materials Science

Superdense wood is lightweight, but strong as steel

Boiled and crushed lumber could be used to build everything from bridges to cars

SEM image of wood

TOUGH STUFF A new wood-compacting process crushes the gaps between cell walls in natural wood (porous structure seen in the scanning electron microscopy image, left), making the densified wood (right) as strong as steel.

J. Song et al/Nature 2018

By Maria Temming

- More than 2 years ago

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Newly fabricated superstrong lumber gives a whole new meaning to “hardwood.”