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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Moulded or folded, this wood stays strong

By tinkering with the structure of wood fibres, scientists have boosted the material’s flexibility and strength.
Gloved hands folding wood in half

A sheet of wood treated to make it flexible can be folded in half. Credit: Liangbing Hu

A quick bath in water helps to make a sheet of treated wood as pliable as paper, allowing it to take on complex forms that have much more strength than natural wood1.

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Nature 598, 542 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02861-4

References

  1. Xiao, S. et al. Science 374, 465–471 (2021).

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