Scientists engineer steel-like wood with iron for stronger, greener construction
Experts are making sustainable building materials a reality by enhancing natural resources like wood.
The idea is to chemically modify lignocellulose to enhance its inherent characteristics for different applications. Wood and many plants contain lignocellulose.
With a whopping 181.5 billion tons of wood produced on an annual basis, it’s an abundant and renewable resource just waiting to be unlocked.
Researchers from Florida Atlantic University, along with the University of Miami and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, set out to enhance the properties of wood to create a “high-performance, eco-friendly material.”
“By looking at wood at different levels – from the microscopic structures inside the cell walls all the way up to the full piece of wood – we were able to learn more about how to chemically improve natural materials for real-world use,” said Vivian Merk, senior author.
Strengthening wood with nano-iron
The team set out for this study with an interesting question: Could adding incredibly hard, nanoscale minerals make wood even stronger, without adding major weight, cost, or environmental impact?
They explored various kinds of ring-porous hardwoods like oak, maple, cherry, and walnut. The team specifically chose red oak and embarked on a simple yet ingenious chemical process.
The researchers produced ferrihydrite, a naturally occurring iron oxide mineral.
For this, they combined ferric nitrate and potassium hydroxide. The goal was to introduce this mineral directly into the cell walls of the wood.
Increased durability of wood
This cost-effective and safe method using nanocrystalline iron oxyhydroxide successfully strengthened the tiny cell walls within the wood. Interestingly, it only added a minimal amount of extra weight.
Despite the increased durability of the wood‘s internal structure after treatment, its overall behavior when bent or broken did not significantly change.
The environmentally friendly material has the potential to substitute steel and concrete in buildings, bridges, furniture, and flooring.
“Wood, like many natural materials, has a complex structure with different layers and features at varying scales. To truly understand how wood bears loads and eventually fails, it’s essential to examine it across these different levels,” said Merk, an assistant professor.
To thoroughly analyze the wood’s structure, the research team used atomic force microscopy, which provided a look at a very fine level to check its stiffness and elasticity.
They also utilized another technique called AM-FM to precisely observe how the mineral treatment modified the cell walls.
And to understand the bigger picture, they conducted standard mechanical tests on both treated and untreated wood samples.
“By reinforcing natural wood through environmentally conscious and cost-effective methods, our researchers are laying the groundwork for a new generation of bio-based materials that have the potential to replace traditional materials like steel and concrete in structural applications,” said Stella Batalama, the dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science.
Widespread use of this material could lead to reduced carbon emissions, less waste, and sustainable construction.
Source: Interesting Engineering
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