This magical wood could only get out of the steel – or is everything just a wooden myth?
Stahl underpins everything, from high -gites to slanted rear, but a new class of “Superwood” with the nickname “Superwood” competes for the crown. Figure facade panels that tie the hurricane winds or light decks that correspond to the pull strength of soft steel, but only weighs a sixth weighing. This is the promise behind Inventwood, a spin -off race of the University of Maryland, to scale production by summer 2025.
In this article, let's examine how this super-charged wood is made, why architects hum and whether it is really willing to challenge Steel's Heavyweight title.
What exactly is Superwood – and can it really replace steel?
Superwood Plank
Image of Inventwood via Globenewswire
The history of Superwood begins with a natural paper from 2018 by the material scientist Prof. Liangbing HU from the University of Maryland. In this study “Processing of mass wood in a high-performance structure material” showed that the HU team by stretching out part of Woods Lignin and then promoted the soft fibers hot into a material that is strong enough to compete with the competing soft steel. Building on these findings, HU was found that Inventwood brought the technology out of the laboratory and construction sites.
Since then, Inventwood has collected about 50 million US dollars and a broken floor on a 90,000 square -foot work in Frederick, Maryland. The company A of the company closed on April 30, 2025 will also scale a pilot line in British Columbia and Cement Key Commercial Partnerships.
According to CEO Alex Lau, the Frederick plant will highlight one million square meters of Superwood a year this summer. The first wave is aimed at premium business and living feeling thinking about high-end wall cladding, flooring and cupboards. A second phase planned for autumn 2025 expands for disguises and roof fighting in outdoor panels. According to Lau, there are complete structural member beams and columns on the roadmap “within a few years” until the last round of the fire brigade, seismic and long-term creeperifications.
Inventwood production system
Image of Connext CRE
How Superwood is done
The transformation of Pappel or Basswood in Superwood begins with a bath of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfite – both common food chemicals. The treatment eliminates part of the lignin (i.e. the natural polymer, which makes wood rigidly) and hemicellulose in the wood, causing the wood to soften without destroying its grain.
Next, the hot compression comes at 65 ° C. The heat collapses the cell walls of wood, forces cellulose fibers into the almost perfect alignment and presses out almost every air pocket. In this close configuration, the fibers form millions of hydrogen bonds and reduce themselves into one up to four times denser material and ten times stronger than the parental wood.
The resulting material is a dark, rich board that still looks like wood, but is more like a high -performance composite. And here is a funny fact: Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) in these fibers can reach train strengths of around 7.5 GPA -high than many commercial carbon fibers (about 3.5 GPA) -which explains the extraordinary performance of Superwood.
Performance: strength, weight and security
Superwood's most striking advantage is the performance of the strength to weight. According to Inventwood, this material delivers about 50% more tensile strength than mild steel steel and a ten -higher ratio of strength to weight. Nevertheless, the scale taps on just one sixth of the steel weight. This unique combination of strength and weight makes it ideal for projects that require a shelf life without mass and offers a more intelligent and more sustainable way to build up.
This muscle comes with endurance of strength: The extreme density of the board makes it very resistant to putrefaction, termites, distortion and moisture. In fact, after a long exposure compared to the humidity, Intentwood has a swelling of less than 8%-a dimensional stability, which is unknown in untreated wood. The fire behavior is also impressive: facade-thickness panels earn an ASTM E84-class A rating, since the pressure wood is so dense that it prevents oxygen flame and makes the surface slowly and self-dislocated.
Environmental effects: On the way to carbon -negative constructions
Concrete and steel are carbon eye weights. Every year the steel industry pumps around 3.6 billion tons of CO₂, while cement production increases a further 2.9 billion tons. No wonder that architects and engineers are looking for low -carbon and sustainable building materials.
Superwood changes equation. Cradle-to-gate life cycle studies thanks to low temperature processing that consumes far less energy indicate about 90% lower emissions per strength. Since the material is still 100% wood, it locks the carbon away that the tree absorbs during growth and further stores this biogenic carbon for decades. At the end of its lifespan, it can certainly be reduced organically – as long as it is not burned – to bring nutrients to the ground instead of staying as a landfill or scrap.
Image by Architecture2030
The combination of these factors offers Superwood a credible path to carbon negative construction when it comes from responsible forests and is used as a replacement for emission -intensive steel or concrete. The environmental reporting information in connection with mechanical performance, which fulfills or exceeds conventional materials, make Superwood one of the most promising tools to decarbonize the built environment.
Why architects and builders should take care of it
Superwood offers designers the appearance of real wood, but offers mechanical properties that outperform everyday steel. Since each board only weighs a fraction of its metal colleague, the crews can use smaller foundations, lighter cranes and fewer truck loads – the savings that are displayed both in the budget and in the project period.
The carbon-poor carbon with low-carbon carbon profile of the material also helps projects to fulfill hard green building standards such as Leed, Well or EU taxonomy without the compromises that are often equipped with alternative products. Although it is compressed, it is still pure wood and retains the biophilic warmth and natural grain that customers love – only without rotting, termites or distortions that awake at night.
The street ahead
In summary, Superwood is more than just hype – it is a real candidate in revolutionizing the construction. If the rollout of Inventwood stays on schedule, architects and builders could start with the cladding-up cladding and terrace next year, and then think about afterwards. Regardless of whether the material ultimately replaces steel across the board or carving a considerable niche, the next few years will be crucial for sustainable construction. One thing is clear: an easier, stronger alternative that penetrates the toolkit and future -oriented companies will want to keep them on their radar.
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Header image of Freepik