TL9+ Wood [Ultratech]

[AlexanderHowl]

Not quite, densitied wood is 3x the density of HDPE and around 10x the strength of HDPE.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Not quite, densitied wood is 3x the density of HDPE and around 10x the strength of HDPE.

The quoted performance for bullet resistance is "slightly worse than a similar thickness of Kevlar". That is inferior to UHMWPE (often just referred to as HDPE) of the types used for body armor.

[AlexanderHowl]

Sheer strength is different from tensile strength and compression strength. The compression strength of densified wood is 50× that oak from what I can gather from the litersture, while the tensile strength and sheer strength are around 10× as much (inferior to Kevlar).

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Sheer strength is different from tensile strength and compression strength. The compression strength of densified wood is 50× that oak from what I can gather from the litersture, while the tensile strength and sheer strength are around 10× as much (inferior to Kevlar).

Another tricky issue there is that the strength of oak is directionally dependent. Ten times the tensile or shear strength along the fibers is quite good (though still well short of the usual hype for carbon fibers, so it's a little inconsistent with some of the other claims), 10 times the tensile or shear strength between the growth rings on the other hand...

Part of the point of densified wood is that the resulting material is more isotropic. Indeed that's the goal of a great deal of materials engineering done on wood all the way back to the invention of plywood.

[scc]

Build some really big skyscrapers, and no I'm not joking, wood is actually something of a hot new material in building construction because it's lighter, cheaper, faster to build with, and more environmentally friendly then concrete. Buildings made with it also have a positive effect on the people living in them.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Sheer strength is different from tensile strength and compression strength. The compression strength of densified wood is 50× that oak from what I can gather from the litersture, while the tensile strength and sheer strength are around 10× as much (inferior to Kevlar).

Originally Posted by malloyd

Another tricky issue there is that the strength of oak is directionally dependent. Ten times the tensile or shear strength along the fibers is quite good (though still well short of the usual hype for carbon fibers, so it's a little inconsistent with some of the other claims), 10 times the tensile or shear strength between the growth rings on the other hand...

the original paper gives the strength increase as x32 to x50 times perpendicular to the growth direction, which is to say the weak direction. The strength with the growth direction increases by x5.5.

x5.5 is a big increase, but it doesn't give quite the results of a x50 strength increase in all directions.

[AlexanderHowl]

Wooden planks being 50x stronger for the thickness is a rather impressive feat.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Wooden planks being 50x stronger for the thickness is a rather impressive feat.

It's 50x harder to split along the grain, but only 5x harder to split in the direction that people actually care about wood being strong in.

[Black Leviathan]

Minimalist furniture.

5 lb dinner table that can hold up a full dinner and the pressure of 5 adults leaning on it. Easier to move, less damaging to flooring, cheaper to ship.