Study Develops Way To Make Wood A Better Insulating Material

Removing polymers from wood, leaving tiny cavities, can drastically improve the material's insulating properties without removing too much of its strength, which might make it useful in buildings, Matthew Sparkes reported for The New Scientist.

Photo Insert: Scientists have worked out how to rapidly heat wood and then slowly cool it to remove polymers known as lignin and hemicelluloses, making it porous and therefore a more effective insulator.

A porous material made by treating wood with sodium hydroxide could better insulate homes against cold and noise, thus allowing the US, United Kingdom and other temperate countries to use a sustainable material for insulation.

Wood is one of the most sustainable building materials available, but it is generally a poor insulator.

Now, Liangbing Hu at the University of Maryland and his colleagues have worked out how to rapidly heat wood and then slowly cool it to remove polymers known as lignin and hemicelluloses, making it porous and therefore a more effective insulator.

The researchers call the resulting material insulwood, which has better insulating properties than untreated wood. The US has already banned the use of non-laminated wood for building homes in order to reduce the possibility of fires.

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