Wood as hard as steel can stop bullets
Materials researchers have developed a simple process that turns a piece of wood into a super-dense material as hard as steel that can stop bullets.
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Researchers create a new super-hard wood material. Photo: UniversityMaryland. |
The finished product is 20% smaller, three times denser and has some impressive properties, but is 20 times harder, 50 times more compressive, and 11.5 times more stretchable than the original wood. These properties make it as hard as steel but lighter than steel. Not only is it much more impact resistant, it is also moisture resistant and can be molded into any shape during compression.
Densified wood can even stop bullets. In the study, researchers fired stainless steel bullets from an air gun, which easily punctured a regular wooden board but failed to penetrate laminated wood of the same thickness.
The team says the technique could create a new class of strong, ultra-light wood materials that could be used to replace steel in construction, help manufacture vehicles or even make bulletproof panels.
