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Super Wood (2018)

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Super Wood (2018)

#11

Post by shalmanese »

ipeefreely wrote: post #3

Does anyone know if this could be used to build high-rises? I imagine it has enough strength for a 10 story building, but the fire risk might be too high.

Contrary to what people believe, timber actually has very good fire resistance characteristics: https://csengineermag.com/fire-design-of-mass-timber-members...

No need for densified wood to build midrises, structured timber products like CLT (basically, fancier plywood) are already being used to construct 5 - 10 story buildings with the tallest wooden skyscrapers being planned at 20 - 70 stories tall: https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/wooden-skyscraper-revo...

Re: Super Wood (2018)

#12

Post by progfix »

echelon wrote: post #8

Several of the new mid-rise buildings in Atlanta, including Facebook's new office building, are all-wood construction using new techniques [1, 2]. This is currently the largest timber building in the US [3], and they've announced they're building more. I imagine this is going to become booming business. [1] https://atlanta.curbed.com/2020/3/19/21186363/facebook-atlan... [2] https://www.ajc.com/business/real-estate/mi…

None of them use "Superwood".

Re: Super Wood (2018)

#14

Post by echelon »

progfix wrote: post #12
echelon wrote: post #8

Several of the new mid-rise buildings in Atlanta, including Facebook's new office building, are all-wood construction using new techniques [1, 2]. This is currently the largest timber building in the US [3], and they've announced they're building more. I imagine this is going to become booming business. [1] https://atlanta.curbed.com/2020/3/19/21186363/facebook-atlan... [2] https://www.ajc.com/business/real-estate/mi…

None of them use "Superwood".

It's a sign of a new trend for building with renewables. They're already breaking records with laminate construction. With new tech to push the boundaries even further, we might see this taking over from steel and concrete.

This is pretty great for carbon sequestration.

Re: Super Wood (2018)

#15

Post by ipeefreely »

randomfool wrote: post #7
ipeefreely wrote: post #3

Does anyone know if this could be used to build high-rises? I imagine it has enough strength for a 10 story building, but the fire risk might be too high.

Cross-laminated timber is already being used for 10-story buildings today. Here's an 18-story one: https://www.dezeen.com/2019/03/19/mjostarne-worlds-tallest-t... And there's a 12-story one in Portland: https://www.archpaper.com/2017/06/framework-portland-timber-...

Incredible stuff. How come this isn't more prominent?

Re: Super Wood (2018)

#19

Post by kortex »

grenoire wrote: post #2

Process-wise I think this is an industrial version of what NileRed [0] and prior AvE [1] tried. Pretty cool, if it's truly a durable alternative. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1H-323d838 [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=880a_XgvBEo

Right, it seems the first step is analogous - breaking down the lignin with base and sulfite. But instead of impregnation with resin, the wood is squished and heated to re-form the crosslinking bonds.
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