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I don’t understand what “natural” has to do with the article. The article mentions a new material that is transparent and has better insulating properties and m
by tonmoy 6y ago
I don’t understand what “natural” has to do with the article. The article mentions a new material that is transparent and has better insulating properties and makes no claim about being natural
- loceng 6y agoIs it honest to still call their product wood? That's the question, calling it wood seems to misappropriate/inherit the assumed values of wood to their product. "Transparent wood" feels better than whatever other title they likely could come up with.
- bsdz 6y agoPerhaps call it an engineered wood product? I think that's what they call MDF.
- tinco 6y agoEven glulam and engineered hardwood flooring is called engineered wood and they are far more natural than this. I think it would be fair to call this wood fiber reinforced epoxy sheets.
- me_me_me 6y agoIt would, but it doesn't roll off a tongue as easy as transparent wood. Same reason we use MDF rather than Medium-density fibreboard.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- cj 6y agoWould “Epoxy coated wood” be more appropriate? Honestly, the manufacturing process sounds much simpler than other “wood” I’ve seen that has much more engineering / chemicals involved.
- joshspankit 6y agoMore like “wood-strengthened epoxy”. Thankfully we have had similar naming laws around the “wood” you mention. They are not perfect, but they are enough if you know what you’re looking for.
- sradman 6y agoI had a discussion with a maker of hand crafted canoes about materials. He was surprised that his cedar-strip [1] canoes were lighter than the equivalent kevlar (which is well known as being lighter than fiberglass but more expensive and harder to repair). The key factor accounting for the weight difference was the amount of epoxy absorbed by each material. Ultimately this is about material science and the various trade-offs inherent in each choice. Cedar-strip canoes have a highly valued aesthetic quality but "wood-strengthened epoxy" is an accurate description of the material; the epoxy, however, is not the distinguishing feature of cedar-strip, kevlar, nor fiberglass canoes. Like all evolving innovations, "transparent wood" seems to be searching for its killer application and I don't expect the name used by researchers to continue if/when it finds product-market fit. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip-built https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strip-built
- joshspankit 6y agoloceng nails my point on the head. > Scientists develop transparent wood that is stronger and lighter than glass That’s the article title, and it’s very easy to argue that they are looking to misappropriate the “wood = natural (and renewable) resource” properties. The current HN title from the paper even goes a step further by pairing it with “Solar-assisted fabrication“.
- kortex 6y agoWood has fantastic mechanical properties. It's also renewable to produce. I would gladly take a piece of half renewable transparent sheet vs a 100% petroleum acrylic sheet. The normal bleaching process is quite energy intensive, so that is also a win. No. If it's not 100% all natural it's green-washing.