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TECHNOLOGY 33
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SELF-DENSIFIED SUPER-STRONG WOOD

Wood, as a sustainable structural material, is widely used in engineering due to its abundance and
excellent mechanical properties. In this paper, we report a self-densification strategy to develop
super-strong wood by reassembling highly aligned wood fibers as functional units and self-densified
without the need for hot pressing. By Huang Dafang, Li Jie, Li Suiyi, Hu Jianbing, Cao Zhiru,
Guo Yang, Ding Yu, Zhu Mingwei and Chen Yanfeng, Nanjing University

ecently, a novel paradigm in material design has This material design concept inspires us to use multi-scale
emerged, based on ordered structures with functional wood fibres as functional units to develop new microstructural
Runits such as compositions, phases and twin crystal. materials with groundbreaking mechanical properties.
By employing artificial units with specific functional Natural wood is a traditional building material in human
properties as building blocks and arranging them in a certain history that has been used for millennia as a structural material.

spatial order in a deliberate spatial order, new materials with Even today, wood remains widely employed in construction,
extraordinary characteristics can be expected. furniture, and various other fields.
In fact, the realisation of special functions through the The mechanical properties of wood are determined by its
construction of ordered structures has long existed in nature, unique hierarchical structure with pronounced anisotropy and
as exemplified by wood. lignocellulosic compositions, which are formed over millions

Tirachard Kumtanom