It sounds like science fiction, but it actually comes from a lab in Maryland.
In 2018, Liangbing Hu, a material scientist at the University of Maryland, came up with a way to turn ordinary wood into a stronger material than steel. It seemed like a discovery grabbing yet another headline that wouldn’t make it from the lab.
“All these people came to him,” said Alex Lau, CEO of Inventwood. “He said, this is amazing, but I am a university professor.
Rather than giving up, Hu has improved its technology over the next few years, reducing the time it took to make materials from over a week to hours. Soon, he was ready to commercialize and licensed the technology to Inventwood.
Now, the first batch of startup Superwood will be produced starting this summer.
“Now, it’s a small plant because it comes out of such a real commercial plant – we’re focusing on skin applications,” Lau said. “In the end we want to reach the bones of the building. 90% of the carbon impact from the building is concrete and steel in building construction.”
To build the factory, Inventwood raised $15 million at the first end of the Series A round. The round was led by the Grantham Foundation with participation from Barsch Future Venture, Builder VC and Muus Climate Partners.
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Inventwood’s superwood products start with regular wood, consisting mainly of two compounds: cellulose and lignin. The goal is to strengthen the cellulose already present in the wood. “Cellulose nanocrystals are actually stronger than carbon fiber,” Lau said.
The company said it was treated with “food industry” chemicals to modify lignin in the wood, compressing the results to increase hydrogen bonds between cellulose molecules.
“We might concentrate the ingredients four times, but we might think, ‘Oh, it’s four times stronger, so it’s four times stronger,” but we might think. But in reality, it’s like something ten times stronger because of all these extra bonds that are created,” Lau said.
The result is a material with a tensile strength of 50% compared to steel, which has a strength-to-weight ratio of 10 times better, the company said. It is also highly resistant to class A fire ratings, or flames, and resistant to rot and pests. Some polymers are impregnated and can be stabilized for outdoor use such as siding, decks, roofs, etc. Inventwood’s first product will be commercial and high-end residential facade materials, Lau said.
Compressing the material also brings a focus on color. “You’ll be what looks like these rich, tropical hardwoods,” he added.
Finally, Inventwood plans to use wood chips to create structural beams of any dimension that do not require finishing. “Imagine your i-beam looks like this,” Lau said, lifting up the Superwood sample. “Like walnuts, they’re beautiful. These are natural colours. We don’t dye this.”
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