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I just saw this and am not sure if it's legit or not.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5902739?fbclid=IwAR1lKxguG9vsfnHxK9ABsB6n4k4-xwWmCitD0vj1Nov3HhA8toxrG_psIjA

Longer more technical article here.

https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/7/5/eabd7342

if legit it might have uses, but since it's brand new we have to wait to see how well it ages.

And that the 'epoxy' doesn't off-gas harmful chemicals.

The hydro peroxide is fine (since its already used as an mild oral disinfectant), but who knows how the combination reacts.

I wonder how well it scales with thickness but thats kinda cool.

That is really cool, but CNN is being deceptively sensationalist to suggest the technology as is could make for decent windows. Those slices were only 1 mm thick and there is already some level of opacity visible. This is what makes scientists so frustrated when it comes to media reporting on progress.

Its cool, but it won't be replacing the windows in your house unless you just want a skylight that diffuses light into a room. An inch or so thick and you might not be able to see through it more than the opaque glass that gets used for showers and stuff. If you can even make it an inch thick. Wood is pretty liquid resistant, so it might not be possible to do this to any wood thicker than a centimeter or so because the chemicals simply can't penetrate further. So do you make a bunch of laminate layers? It's doubtful it would remain so clear if you did that, and you've sacrificed strength to do that.

That said, I think this would make a very nice material for scale models as window panels or for any other application that wants a transparent thin relatively strong material. And unlike plastic it probably would hold up to weathering from stuff like sun exposure a lot better.

Maybe it could replace stiff plastic in clamshell packaging.

Ooo, good idea.

Optical panels seems like the ideal use.

I understand this stuff can be stronger than materials like gorilla glass.

I wonder if this stuff could be laminated onto glass for thermal insulation. Maybe even added onto existing windows.

Given that temps in my area have been in single digits for a week (+ and -) i find this idea very appealing just now.

Hypothetical use for semi-transparent wood: some type of semi-private screen. Kind of like frosted glass that will let light in, but not really give away too much detail. I've seen this in office buildings, storefront windows, showers, gazebos, screens around hot tubs, greenhouses, etc.

It could definitely be used for that. But is it really any better than normal glass at that job? In that application it kinda has the "Solution in search of a Problem" problem. Frosted glass is pretty simple to make, so this stuff would have to have serious advantages over it to justify using it like that. I doubt it would ever be cheaper.

 Grey Templar wrote:
It could definitely be used for that. But is it really any better than normal glass at that job? In that application it kinda has the "Solution in search of a Problem" problem. Frosted glass is pretty simple to make, so this stuff would have to have serious advantages over it to justify using it like that. I doubt it would ever be cheaper.

Glass is pretty simple to make, the advantage of transparent wood comes in terms of polarization.

Any polarizing filter can only live on the surface of glass. Any polarizing filter can be process added into transparent wood, which creates other applications.

Transparent wood, also, does not need to be rigid. If you're looking to make bendable electronics or shiny wearables, it might be very appealing.

I'm concerned that this only says "wood" through out and doesn't identify the species or density. Is it a sustainable hardwood, an unstable softwood, a non CARB compliant tropical? That very minor omission actually means a lot towards the sustainability of this product as a glass or glass-like alternative.

Jerram wrote:I wonder how well it scales with thickness but thats kinda cool.

The samples all appear to be 1mm; for comparison baltic birch plywood in 12mm has 11 plies that actually average a little over a mm because the two face plies are noticeably thinner. In a laminated application it could have some function; say as a skylight. But I don't see a lot of mention of strength before and after the process.

NinthMusketeer wrote:That is really cool, but CNN is being deceptively sensationalist to suggest the technology as is could make for decent windows. Those slices were only 1 mm thick and there is already some level of opacity visible. This is what makes scientists so frustrated when it comes to media reporting on progress.

It appears the diffusion through the samples is >90% per mm; glass and polycarb are nearly 100%, in anything approaching the same thickness and I'm going to guess for tensile strength the treated wood is probably going to have to be thicker: you aren't going to have glass-like properties.