Researchers are working on a technology that can deliver transparent wood as a more durable alternative to glass and plexiglass. Transparent wood is reportedly 10 times stronger than glass and 3 times stronger than Plexiglass. The revolutionary technology will mark a watershed in the development of alternatives to the commonly used glass for screens including smartphone screens.
A report from the journal Scientific American outlines the work of Lars Berglund, a Swedish researcher. The article also highlighted the work of a team of researchers at the University of Maryland working on transparent wood.
Glass has evolved over the years to be the default material for displays but the transparent wood alternative display seems to be a very tantalizing alternative. Lars Berglund is affiliated with the KTH Institute of Technology in Sweden and his research points to a promising future for transparent wood in various applications. The process of making wood to be transparent involves modifying or removing lignin from the wood. Lignin is a glue-like substance that holds the cells that transport water and nutrients throughout the tree, giving the tree a brown color.
The researchers bleached or removed the lignin in the wood and then filled it with epoxy resin to make it transparent. Berglum and the UM team’s lead scientist, Liangbing Hu, multimeter-thick sheets of transparent wood offer up to 90% light transmittance. This high transmittance rate however reduces as the thickness of the wood increases up to a centimeter. The researchers also carried out extensive tests to establish the durability and reliability of transparent wood over glass/ Plexiglass.
The researchers are of the view that transparent wood could be a great alternative to utilize in displays instead of glass or plastics. It can also be possibly used as a replacement for glass windows because of its enhanced durability. Such transparent windows can be used to mimic smart windows that can be seen as transparent sometimes and tinted at other times.
There are still concerns about the environmental friendliness of transparent wood since it is produced from a petroleum-derived plastic product epoxy resin. However, the researchers are hopeful of obtaining a sustainable alternative to epoxy resin. When this is achieved, then we may have entered the era of transparent wood displays in our smartphones and other devices.
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