InventWood is about to mass-produce wood that's stronger than steel

a year ago

Liangbing Hu, a materials scientist at the University of Maryland, developed a method to transform ordinary wood into a material stronger than steel in 2018.
The technology was refined over several years, reducing production time from over a week to a few hours, leading to commercialization through InventWood.
InventWood's first batches of Superwood, a material with 50% more tensile strength than steel and a 10x better strength-to-weight ratio, will be produced starting summer 2024.
Superwood is Class A fire-rated, resistant to rot and pests, and can be stabilized for outdoor use with polymer impregnation.
InventWood raised $15 million in a Series A round led by the Grantham Foundation to build a factory for Superwood production.
The company's initial focus is on skin applications for buildings, with plans to expand to structural beams, aiming to reduce the carbon impact of construction materials like concrete and steel.
Superwood is made by treating regular timber with food industry chemicals, modifying its molecular structure, and compressing it to increase hydrogen bonds between cellulose molecules, resulting in a material that is denser and stronger.
The compressed material also concentrates colors, resembling richer, tropical hardwoods without staining.

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