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By Theo Burman
Live News Reporter
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A new kind of wood, stronger than steel and created from ordinary timber, is approaching full-scale production.
The material, named "Super Wood," by creators InventWood, could provide an alternative to using tropical hardwoods from forests at risk of deforestation.
Why It Matters
Buildings and infrastructure are major contributors to global carbon emissions, primarily through the use of concrete and steel. By replacing these with a renewable and significantly less carbon-intensive material like Super Wood, it could be possible to make construction both more sustainable and cost-effective.
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What To Know
In 2018, Liangbing Hu, a materials scientist at the university, discovered a way to transform regular wood into a high-performance structural material by altering its molecular composition.
Hu then licensed the technology to InventWood, a startup now preparing for its first commercial production run.
Superwood starts with regular timber, which is mostly composed of two compounds, cellulose and lignin. The goal is to strengthen the cellulose already present in the wood, according to an interview with Tech Crunch.
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Superwood is created by chemically treating wood with food-industry chemicals to remove most of its lignin and then compressing the material to strengthen the hydrogen bonds between cellulose molecules.
"Superwood is specifically engineered to be up to 50 percent stronger than steel in certain applications, with a strength-to-weight ratio up to 10 times greater," a spokesperson for InventWood told Newsweek.
"It maintains the aesthetic qualities of premium wood and is suited for diverse applications including structural-grade beams, interior furnishings, cladding, decking, and even in fire-prone regions due to its Class A fire rating.
"The production involves a proprietary, non-toxic densification process using food-safe chemicals to remove lignin and precision-controlled compression to create strong hydrogen bonds between cellulose fibers. This enhances natural durability without synthetic components."
The final product, which displays "the rich, lustrous beauty of tropical hardwood" is also resistant to rot and pests, according to InventWood.
Super Wood is set to be produced in a $15 million factory backed by top construction investors, including Baruch Future Ventures, Builders VC, and Muus Climate Partners.
What People Are Saying
A spokesperson for InventWood told Newsweek: "Super Wood significantly outperforms traditional wood and many conventional construction materials in strength, durability, and environmental sustainability. Its lighter weight relative to steel also reduces logistical challenges in construction."
InventWood CEO Alex Lau said in a statement on LinkedIn: "We're not gluing or mixing wood with synthetic polymers. We're fundamentally restructuring and compressing it to create incredibly strong hydrogen bonding between the cellulose fibers."
What's Next
InventWood plans to launch its first commercial products this summer. The aim for production is to use low-value wood chips to manufacture structural-grade beams of any dimension that will not require finishing.
Update 05/20/25, 04:52 a.m. ET. This story has been updated with comment from a spokesperson for InventWood.
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