See-thru wood

[wood2woodknot]

THIS COULD BECOME INTERESTING:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolog...r-BB19J7oR

Science develops wood that is see-thru, almost as clear as glass, stronger than glass, and having a higher R value.

-ajh

[stav]

That does look pretty neat.  I imagine it would be lighter in weight as well.  I wonder if this could be adapted to cars.

On a woodworking note, I wonder what kind of finish would look good on it...  

[Alan S]

Yes, it's cool.  They optimized tor transparency, strength, and thermal insulation.  Those things are all good.  But water is a problem, so the finish you mention is needed.

It says in the paper linked from the news article that the finish they used on it was Minwax polyurethane.  (Well, it actually says Minmax, but I think that's a typo.)  The finish is important to keep it from swelling in humid air and the PVA leaching out if it gets wet.

[Bill_de]

Yes, it's cool.  They optimized tor transparency, strength, and thermal insulation.  Those things are all good.  But water is a problem, so the finish you mention is needed.

It says in the paper linked from the news article that the finish they used on it was Minwax polyurethane.  (Well, it actually says Minmax, but I think that's a typo.)  The finish is important to keep it from swelling in humid air and the PVA leaching out if it gets wet.

Transparent aluminum is the ticket!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xaVgRj2e5_s

[jteneyck]

The last line in that article was great, something about transition to large scale manufacturing being easy.  Horse pucky.  There are so many issues that would need to be studied and solved with this concept, long term durability being high on the list.  Glass is brittle, heavy, and sucks thermally, but it does it's key job brilliantly - it's dead flat and optically nearly perfect,  and is unaffected by UV and the weather for decades/'centuries.   The chemistry can be modified to be heat absorbing or reflecting or colored.  It can be thermally or chemically toughened or laminated to make it very impact resistant.  Glass is cheap to make from commonly available raw materials and completely recyclable.  Plastics displaced glass in much of the container packaging business because of it's clear advantages, but not for windows even though it's lighter, tougher, and thermally more efficient.  Glass wins because of it's optical performance, durability, and low cost.  Besides being lighter I don't see a single advantage for a wood based window.  

John

[Kmucha16]

The last line in that article was great, something about transition to large scale manufacturing being easy.  Horse pucky.  There are so many issues that would need to be studied and solved with this concept, long term durability being high on the list.  Glass is brittle, heavy, and sucks thermally, but it does it's key job brilliantly - it's dead flat and optically nearly perfect,  and is unaffected by UV and the weather for decades/'centuries.   The chemistry can be modified to be heat absorbing or reflecting or colored.  It can be thermally or chemically toughened or laminated to make it very impact resistant.  Glass is cheap to make from commonly available raw materials and completely recyclable.  Plastics displaced glass in much of the container packaging business because of it's clear advantages, but not for windows even though it's lighter, tougher, and thermally more efficient.  Glass wins because of it's optical performance, durability, and low cost.  Besides being lighter I don't see a single advantage for a wood based window.  

John

John, you make some great points on the pros and cons. I believe the point of the article was also to bring production costs to light (not $$ cost). Glass takes a massive amount of energy (heat) to create, thus needing a fuel, creating carbon emissions. These scientists are trying to find a more emission friendly material given the current climate discussions. Now, does that mean harvesting more trees, which are carbon absorbers? Not sure that's the final answer, but this could be the first step in that direction.

There certainly needs to be longer term studies on this new material. My first thought, Balsa wood? that's a pretty soft material. My experience with PVA hasn't led me to believe that's a sufficient hardener for this use. As you pointed out with glass, stability would be an issue too. As woodworkers, we all recognize that wood moves, not a great feature in a situation where we use glass typically. Again, good step in the right direction, but needs more study.

My $0.02.

Kevin

[Willyou]

On a woodworking note, I wonder what kind of finish would look good on it...  

"Clear Coat". Of course!

[merced]

I wonder what kind of finish would look good on it...   

Paint.

[daddo]

Not practical for exposed windows.

Is it fireproof?
Waterproof?
Sound proofing?
UV, UB proof?
Last 100 years?
Baseball proof?