Seems like a cool material. Wonder if it will soon be as ubiquitous as this rah rah article makes it sound. Anyone seen or used transparent wood?
I think it’s extremely generous to call this “transparent”. It appears merely translucent to me. The only images I can find show the wood right up against whatever we’re seeing through it. I think it’s more like oiled paper. Plastic and glass both work so well I don’t expect it to go anyplace other than some niche novelty applications.
Maybe you could use it to transport your humpback whales through time in your hijacked Klingon warbird.
Everyone fondly remembers when wood was desirable on car exteriors to increase aerodynamics and allow surfers to make crude puns. I am hopeful Musk will find a way to add this modern agile component to future vehicles and spacey things.
Nile Red has done two videos on transparent wood. He got pretty close with his second attempt.
Sure, but balsa wood is like 5% wood and 95% air anyway.
I’d like to see him do that with a similarly sliced slab of maple.
Pfft! I was married for 20 years. Don’t talk to me about Transparent Wood!
It’s a gimmick, it’s basically contaminated plastic/resin where the contaminant only barely affects the translucency. Unless I see any indication otherwise, I don’t see why you wouldn’t use just regular plastic except for the faux-eco credentials.
I’m not seeing any real value here other than for artistic cosmetic applications. Its basically the cellulosic structure of wood that has been impregnated with a polymer like polyacrylate or epoxy. Its not as hard as glass so will scratch easily, Its not as strong as other (opaque) composites and isn’t lighter than other options.
I see no advantage to this, and its getting attention because its the subject of study and looks kinda cool.
Unless there is a real advantage of this over something else, it will not be marketable.
I’ve been to the UMD lab that’s discussed, but I’m more interested in their high strength woods. The transparent wood is just a cellulose-reinforced composite that is primarily resin, and:
for now, glass still has lower end-of-life environmental impacts than transparent wood
But if they’re able to partially use it for load bearing, that could be interesting.
A former co-worker became obsessed with transparent wood a few years ago, and keeps trying to figure out how to get on the bandwagon. Nothing’s come of this yet.