Why scientists are making transparent wood / The results are amazing, that a piece of wood can be as strong as glass::The material is being exploited for smartphone screens, insulated windows, and more.
Why scientists are making transparent wood / The results are amazing, that a piece of wood can be as strong as glass::The material is being exploited for smartphone screens, insulated windows, and more.
Better than glass, though.
Is it? We’ve been making glass for centuries and it’s the one thing that is consistently recycled. You would have to grow the wood (resources), transport the wood (resources), change the wood’s properties (resources) and there is no recycling in place.
You would have to make the glass, transport it and make it into window pane, so not much different.
Wood is compostable. But I wonder if making it transparent makes it something you wouldn’t want to grow food with.
Edit: they plan to add epoxy resin which would make the wood something you definitely don’t want to compost and would probably also leach EAs.
Isn’t it amazing what information you can glean from reading the article?