[anon_cow1111]

I have a tiny bit of advice I might be able to lend here, for experimentation purposes mainly. Regular hardwood can be heat-treated to increase its density and compression strength considerably, in the most basic form this can be done at home by heating it... slowly... up to ~400F (typically just holding it over a hot-plate until it's light-medium brown. You'll want a temperature-stable oven for wood more than a cm or so thick)

This won't provide the same density this study has achieved, but it'll give you a quick proof-of concept for next to no cost.

In the article I believe they also chemically alter the wood by removing lignin with a boiling sodium hydroxide solution. Basically dissolving out the 'dead weight' and leaving more cellulose, which is what's giving wood most of its strength.

They do also use physical compression under heat, which wouldn't be too hard to achieve with mere run to home-depot, but I'm not sure how much effort you want to put into this as of now.

[symby]

Yeah... I don't want to make this stuff, I want to use this stuff.

It would be great to get an understanding of its performance specs. I may be able to specify hardened wood in place of steel, aluminum, magnesium machined parts in high-end ecologically conscious consumer products... but not without some understanding of the engineering specifications and a source of material.

[anon_cow1111]

My best guess would be to contact someone from the study group directly via email and ask about obtaining an engineering sample for a potential commercial product (no really, they'll probably appreciate it). At this point the wood is likely still being produced in situ (i.e. a few guys making it in a phys/chem lab). The more interest is shown to them, the more likely they are to start looking at contracting the process out, thus making material easier to obtain and lower cost.

From what I've read, I'd expect it to behave similarly (in yield/toughness/hardness) to cast aluminum but with a tendency to split along the grain still, for machining purposes. So fairly hard, but not super ductile. The density will be in the same ballpark as magnesium if my math is right.

But... 'ecologically conscious' won't mean anything until production can be scaled up. When you're measuring things in raw carbon-footprint, it won't be able to break even with recycled pop cans merely due to the low-quantity batches they're processing now. It could be viable in mass production based on a previous article I read in Nature. The process seems simple enough that I could replicate it in my garage with some effort, so I think there's some potential there. It's just a question of whether it can beat traditional metals economically, with a slight edge in aesthetic appeal for your high-end customers.