Wood Honeycombs for Lightweight, Energy Efficient Structural Applications

InventWood with its partner institutes propose to develop and manufacture lightweight 3D wood corrugated honeycomb structures to replace metal counterparts. The proposed research addresses the Technical Areas of Interest of “Advanced trees as high-performance, durable structural materials and/or as permanent carbon sequestration solutions”. The technical targets for the twoyear ARPA-E project include: (1) improving the performance of corrugated wood, a specific type of 3D wood, to achieve a mechanical strength of up to 500 MPa; (2) improving the performance of 3D wood to meet the requirements as a structural material, including bending, compression, fatigue resistance, and thermal-cycling and water stability; (3) developing scalable processes for manufacturing the 3D wood honeycomb structure; (4) conducting life-cycle assessment (LCA) and modeling the environmental impact (CO2), cost, and energy consumption of 3D wood; and (5) conducting a technology-to-market study. The 3D wood is a revolutionary advance in lightweight materials when compared to widely used Al in terms of mechanical strength (comparable), density (1/3), cost (1/14), and environmental impact (~90% reduction in CO2 emission). The potential use of 3D wood as a lightweight, low-cost structural material in the automotive, aerospace and construction industries could greatly decrease the use of Al and other metals in the U.S. with added environmental benefits (e.g., reduced CO2 emission). The proposed research could positively impact the national wood industry. Additionally, 3D wood could enable significant cost and fuel/energy savings in a broad range of applications without sacrificing safety.