Super wood

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BigFatKen

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from https://www.scientificamerican.com/...-speeding-bullet-mdash-it-rsquo-s-super-wood/

CHEMISTRY
Stronger Than Steel, Able to Stop a Speeding Bullet—It’s Super Wood!

Simple processes can make wood tough, impact-resistant—or even transparent

  • By Sid Perkins on February 7, 2018
  • from Liangbing Hu, a materials scientist at the University of Maryland, College Park.

A five-layer, plywood-like sandwich of densified wood stopped simulated bullets fired into the material—a result Hu and his colleagues suggest could lead to low-cost armor. The material does not protect quite as well as a Kevlar sheet of the same thickness—but it only costs about 5 percent as much, he notes.
 
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That's really interesting stuff. Being a professional forester, I'd totally wear body armor made out of wood! There are trees out there with amazing densities, eastern hophornbeam (ironwood) for example. It's pretty light, and if you have ever tried to pound a nail into it, it's not a lot of fun. In fact the hardness and slow growth rate is part of why it isn't used more frequently in industrial uses.

I picture an army of police officers that look like animated Ikea furniture roaming the streets.
 
I wonder how it performs after taking the first hit. I don’t know why a dense wood like ironwood and maybe Osage orange (for durability) or layers of dense wood placed under extreme pressure, then glued, wouldn’t be quite strong. But would the glue hold after the first impact. Maybe if a flex additive was added. Certainly an interesting proposition and worth exploring.
 
A five-layer, plywood-like sandwich of densified wood stopped simulated bullets fired into the material—a result Hu and his colleagues suggest could lead to low-cost armor. The material does not protect quite as well as a Kevlar sheet of the same thickness—but it only costs about 5 percent as much, he notes.
What's a "simulated" bullet?
 
The part about it being able to be made transparent is also interesting. That army mentioned could have clear armor.

Same for houses, large sections could be clear for areas with interesting views with non breakable "glass".
 
I wonder how it performs after taking the first hit. I don’t know why a dense wood like ironwood and maybe Osage orange (for durability) or layers of dense wood placed under extreme pressure, then glued, wouldn’t be quite strong. But would the glue hold after the first impact. Maybe if a flex additive was added. Certainly an interesting proposition and worth exploring.
I do a fair amount of woodworking... Modern wood glues are actually stronger than the wood around them. Consequently when joints break, it's very often the wood around the joint breaking, not the glue bond. That said, I've never shot any of my projects to see how they'd hold up, and have no idea how that might affect glue joints. I know plywood delamination occurs all the time, but it's often not made using the highest quality glue... But it's also not intended to be bullet proof. I imagine they'd be a bit pickier with glue selection (as well as process control, making sure to eliminate voids, etc.) For this application.
 
"I am Groot!"

Actually, transparent and translucent wood-based products have been around for over a century and anyone that has built and used a medieval-type shield knows about the projectile-resistant properties of laminated wood.
I'm interested in what caliber-equivalent projectile was used and what adhesives were involved, as well as what type of backing and staging was used to hold the armor in place... .
 
One other note: wood generally spalls like crazy.

Enough of *any* material will stop a bullet. The real question is "how much of this material do I need to stop the bullets I care about stopping, and what will wearing that amount of said material cost me in flexibility, weight, cost, etc.?"
 
Stuff might also be useful in making impact resistant panels for a variety of uses.
 
bearcreek writes:

Isn't an air rifle bullet still a bullet?

I've never heard them called by any term other than "pellet" (or "BB" in cases of the round ones shot down a smoothbore.)

I imagine that anything that can be made the same size, weight, mass, density, and shape as a bullet, and can then be propelled at the same velocity as one using a means other than pyrotechnics, can be referred to as a "simulated bullet".

Okay, did a bit more poking around and found this:



The wood "slowed" the projectiles, stopping them within. It did not "deflect" the projectiles, which were indeed propelled pneumatically.
 
bearcreek writes:
I've never heard them called by any term other than "pellet" (or "BB" in cases of the round ones shot down a smoothbore.)
I was referring more to larger air rifles, like the .357 Bulldog. The projectiles for those are normally called bullets. I should have clarified that.
 
^^ Then, yeah, I wonder where the line is separating "pellets" from "bullets."
Seems to be at .22 cal, for whatever reason. Anyway, still not sure what "simulated" bullets or pellets, for that matter, would be. My guess is that the person writing the article couldn't explain the difference either. The projectiles for the tests probably weren't fired from an actual firearm so the author figured he/she would call them "simulated".
 
The material does not protect quite as well as a Kevlar sheet of the same thickness—but it only costs about 5 percent as much, he notes.

Hmmmm......not quite as good, but 95% cost less......now, what will the bean counters conclude is the best value?
 
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I think there is a lot of research and testing that needs to be done, before we will find this a Home Depot.
About 50 or 60 years ago there was a company In Grand Rapids, MI, that was manufacturing a laminated, wood,,, I guess you would call it plywood, that could be formed into shapes.. I think some furniture manufacturers picked up on that, Apparently it died, though yo can still find some of that furniture at Goodwill and such.
 
Being a carpenter for many years and now a mill operator in the lumber industry this is definitely intriguing.

A void free ply made up of the world's strongest hardwoods used with high grade adhesive sounds enticing.

I dont know about body armor but I could absolutely see this as a sheathing on residential and some commercial applications, for more reasons than just "bullet proof".
 
The world of composite construction (particularly laminations) is moving along quickly - whether it's wood, fiberglass, or the new "carbon fibers" involved. Anyone wanting to do a bit of learning might look to small skiff construction where companies and individuals are evolving ever lighter, ever stronger laminations for various uses.

On this site all of us are focused on weapons technology - but the stuff coming out of small skiff builders shops is super interesting - and may eventually begin to show up in armor projects....
 
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