Posted on 05/17/2024 12:08:11 PM PDT by Red Badger
Glass might soon have some competition from an unlikely rival – bamboo. Scientists in China have turned regular old bamboo into a transparent material that’s also resistant to fire and water, and suppresses smoke.
Silica glass, made from sand, is still the go-to building material when you need something transparent but strong, like windows. But it’s not particularly sustainable, and can be heavy and brittle.
Transparent wood has actually been muscling in on glass’s turf for a few years now. Scientists chemically remove the lignin from the wood fibers, then treat the remaining material with plexiglass or epoxy. The end result is a material that’s transparent, renewable, and as strong as or stronger than glass, while being lighter and a better thermal insulator.
There are still a few problems with using wood though. It’s way more flammable than glass, and already in high demand, with stocks taking too long to replenish. So for the new study, researchers at Central South University of Forestry and Technology (CSUFT) in China turned to bamboo instead.
“Bamboo, often referred to as ‘the second forest,' boasts a fast growth and regeneration rate, allowing it to reach maturity and be utilized as a building material within four to seven years of growth,” said Caichao Wan, corresponding author of the study. “With an output four times higher than wood per acre, bamboo is recognized for its exceptional efficiency.”
Bamboo’s internal structure and chemical composition is very similar to wood, so the team used the same method to turn it transparent. After the lignin is removed, the bamboo is infused with an inorganic liquid sodium silicate, which changes the light refraction of the fibers to make it clear. Then, it’s treated to make the material hydrophobic, or water-repelling.
(Excerpt) Read more at newatlas.com ...
More sustainable than glass? Are we running out of sand?
Neither scratch resistance nor UV resistance are mentioned.
Sounds like a niche product unless those properties are addressed.
Is this another description of glass.
Is there anything you can’t do with Bamboo?
>> [Glass is] not particularly sustainable
So what. Integrated circuits aren’t “sustainable” as the environazis use the term, but I’ve never heard them whine about that.
>> Are we running out of sand?
Nah, there are plenty of middle eastern deserts just begging to be nuked into glass. 😉
They view the Earth as a single pie.
Only so much pie to go around.
This is wrong.
There are more minerals and resources than they can possibly imagine still inside the Earth.
Not to mention the Moon and other planets..................
Production costs for large scale production are as yet unknown, so it is still a maybe and not a “done deal”.
You beat me to it. Is there a shortage of sand or rocks that can be crushed? Hardly.
Hey folks, the screens on your cell phones and the panels on stealth aircraft are made of cotton fiber Cellulose. Much of it in the way of process technology is classified. That slave picked cotton is extremely advanced in technology.
Bamboo in general is a wonderful material. I recall buildings under construction in Taiwan and Hong Kong covered in a lace work of bamboo. Doesn’t rust in humid climates and by weight much stronger than steel. Of course, the average Chinese laborer probably weighs about 130 lbs., so there is that to consider when you’re relying on it hanging off the side at the 35th story.
When I was in the Boy Scouts in the Philippines as a kid, we learned how to cook rice in bamboo. We also learned how to completely blow up and demolish a campfire by throwing a section of bamboo into it!
We were “unlearned” of that fun thing by our Scoutmaster...:)
I know people who used to swear that Bamboo made the best bongs...
Somewhere around here I still have a bumper sticker that says:
Earth First! We’ll Mine Other Planets Later...
Put shitlib Democrats in charge of the Sahara and we’ll have sand shortages in less than 5 years.
Transparent wood has actually been muscling in on glass’s turf for a few years now. Scientists chemically remove the lignin from the wood fibers, then treat the remaining material with plexiglass or epoxy. The end result is a material that’s transparent, renewable, and as strong as or stronger than glass, while being lighter and a better thermal insulator.
ping...
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