Wood floors, wood paneling, how about wood windows? Researchers out of Sweden have developed transparent wood, which could be used as a substitute for plastic or glass, according to Fast Company.
Researcher Lars Berglund at Sweden’s KTH Royal Institute of Technology discovered he could remove the lignin from thin strips of wood veneer and, after replacing the lignin with a polymer, he had an 85 percent transparent, one-millimeter-thick strip of veneer.
He calls it transparent wood composite. It has all the strength of lumber but can let in light, so the process could be used to “create everything from transparent wood structures to load-bearing windows that never crack or shatter,” according to Fast Company.
“We’re getting a lot of interest from architects who want to bring more light into their buildings,” he told the magazine.
