It looks like science fiction stuff, but in reality it comes from a laboratory in Maryland.
In 2018, Liangbing Hu, a scientist from the materials of the University of Maryland, had conceived a way to transform ordinary wood into a stronger steel material. It seemed yet another title that grabbed the discovery that would not have left the laboratory.
“All these people came to him,” said Alex Lau, CEO of Inventwood, “it’s how, ok, it’s fantastic, but I’m a university professor. I don’t know what to do about it.”
Rather than giving up, Hu has spent the next few years to perfect the technology, reducing the time taken to make the material for more than a week a few hours. He was soon ready to market and licensed the technology in Inventwood.
Now, the first superwood lots of the startup will be produced from this summer.
“At this moment, leaving this unique commercial plant in its genre-quindi is a smaller plant-concentrated plant on skin applications,” said Lau. “In the end we want to get to the building’s bones. Ninety percent of the carbon impact from the buildings is cement and steel in the construction of the building.”
To build the factory, Inventwood collected $ 15 million in the first closure of a Serie A round
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The inventwood superwood product starts with regular timber, which is mainly composed of two compounds, cellulose and lignin. The goal is to strengthen the cellulose already present in the wood. “Cellulose nanocrystal is actually stronger than a carbon fiber,” said Lau.
The company treats it with chemicals of the “food industry” to change the lignin in the wood, he said, therefore compresses the result to increase the hydrogen bonds between cellulose molecules.
“We could densify the 4x material and you might think:” Oh, it will be strong four times, because it has the fiber four times. “But in reality it is more similar to 10 times stronger because of all these extra bonds that are created,” said Lau.
The result is a material that has 50% more traction resistance than the steel with a resistance-penal ratio which is ten times better, said the company. It is also evaluated by the class A fire, or highly flame resistant and rot to rot and parasites. With a little impregnated polymer, it can be stabilized for external use as coverings, decking or roofs. The first inventwood products will be materials for facades for commercial and high -end residential buildings, said Lau.
Understanding the material also focuses the colors. “You end up with something that looks like these richest and tropical hard woods,” he added.
Ultimately, Inventwood planns to use wooden chips to create structural beams of any size that will not need to finish. “Imagine that your beams are like this,” said Lau, raising a superwood champion. “They are beautiful, like Walnut, Ipe. These are the natural colors. We have not stained any of this.”
