Material Innovation

December 4, 2022 11:42 PM

What is Structural Engineered Bamboo (SEB)? - "[Radial laminated bamboo] is more than twice the strength of any engineered or glulam timber product. In tension, it is more than 10 times stronger due to the continuous silica fiber content throughout bamboo. The higher density of SEB is ideal for connection design as timber fiber will crush within bolted connections, whereas this maintains its form under higher compression."[1]

• Engineered bamboo
• Engineered bamboo for structural applications [2]
• How Effective is Laminated Bamboo for Structural Applications?
• Laminated Bamboo Structures for a Changing World
• Bamboo - the Green Steel for Construction
• Transforming Trees Into Skyscrapers
• Bamboo Skyscrapers
• Speehuis House

also btw...

• A ceramic that bends instead of shattering - "Ceramic materials are, at least in principle, capable of plastic deformation at room temperature. If ceramics can be shaped by hammering, bending, or pulling without fracturing, this will vastly expand the range of applications for these materials. For example, the strong ionic and covalent bonding in ceramics, combined with this hypothetical plasticity, could lead to materials that are lighter and stronger than even the best metal alloys of today. On page 371 of this issue, Zhang et al. present how silicon nitride (Si3N4), one of the most versatile engineering ceramic materials, can be made to exhibit plasticity at room temperature. Their proof-of-concept experiment and simulation results offer a potential route to realizing the dream of flexible ceramics."[3,4]
• They made a material that doesn't exist on Earth. That's only the start of the story. - "Two teams of scientists — one at Northeastern University in Boston; the other at the University of Cambridge in the UK — recently announced that they managed to manufacture, in a lab, a material that does not exist naturally on Earth. It — until now — has only been found in meteorites."

We spoke to Laura Henderson Lewis, one of the professors on the Northeastern team, and she told us the material found in the meteorites is a combination of two base metals, nickel and iron, which were cooled over millions of years as meteoroids and asteroids tumbled through space. That process created a unique compound with a particular set of characteristics that make it ideal for use in the high-end permanent magnets that are an essential component of a vast range of advanced machines, from electric vehicles to space shuttle turbines.

The compound is called tetrataenite, and the fact that scientists have found a way to make it in a lab is a huge deal. If synthetic tetrataenite works in industrial applications, it could make green energy technologies significantly cheaper. It could also roil the market in rare earths, currently dominated by China, and create a seismic shift in the industrial balance between China and the West.

• Going back to basics yields a printable, transparent plastic that's highly conductive - "The resulting process could yield new kinds of flexible, transparent electronic devices—things like wearable biosensors, organic photovoltaic cells, and virtual or augmented reality displays and glasses."
• AI searches for new materials - "[M]aterials scientists and chemists are using machine learning and other tools to perform computations and simulations that can point them to candidates for new catalysts, polymers and other materials with unique properties."[5]

posted by kliuless (18 comments total)

this is all fascinating - thanks!
posted by From Bklyn at 5:22 AM on December 5, 2022

Very cool! This material will serve as a great replacement for steel in large buildings.

Outside of East Asia, a lack of available craft specialists with bamboo joinery experience has prevented the adoption of whole-culm construction. The whole culm’s rigidity is lost when bamboo is split. While I’m sure this lamination process produces a stiffer, more consistent product appropriate for large buildings, whole-culm bamboo is an excellent product for smaller buildings that is likely to be far more material efficient.
posted by Headfullofair at 6:35 AM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

Fortunately, once they apply for patents, everyone will be able to see how it's done.
posted by seanmpuckett at 7:14 AM on December 5, 2022

A friend went to a bamboo building masterclass at the Green School in Bali and it was affronting to see the different bamboo techniques people were working with.
posted by pipstar at 8:06 AM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]

Got a kid who's good at STEM? Tell them to take a look at materials science, which seems set to explode ...
posted by ZenMasterThis at 8:55 AM on December 5, 2022 [5 favorites]

Hah, quartersawn bamboo! Wish I could get 10 board feet of it to play with, but sadly all the high tech fiber laminates are only for specialty architects. (Also I'm pretty sure all the silica would grind my blades into stumps in no time.)
posted by echo target at 9:38 AM on December 5, 2022

Echo target— bamboo is hell on blades! I use hacksaw blades to saw it. For splitting and shaping, I use either disposable knife blades or a traditional Japanese bamboo hatchet, which is cast iron and designed to be constantly sharpened. Bamboo will chip most disposable blades, I recommend an Olfa CK-1 or CK-2.
posted by Headfullofair at 9:52 AM on December 5, 2022 [5 favorites]

This just kept getting better as it went on, though million year meteorite magnets seem most startling for the bear-ish future.

Lots of what a friend of mine calls Elvish technology, much lighter in input and safer. (Allowing the possibility of world-shattering side effects eventually, too.)
posted by clew at 10:18 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

I put down strand-woven bamboo flooring in a couple of rooms. It's incredibly dense, heavy and rigid, much more so than any hardwood I've used. Wears down the blade on a mitre saw pretty quickly. But after 10 years in a bathroom (and with the aid of a factory-applied finish) it's stood up really well to daily moisture, and looks really good.
posted by pipeski at 10:19 AM on December 5, 2022 [5 favorites]

Headfullofair, that reminds me of a new approach to using tree branch forks as naturally reinforced junctions for building Branching off: using Y-shaped tree sections as structural connections.
posted by unearthed at 11:17 AM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

using Y-shaped tree sections as structural connections.
Isn't that how the British built their sailing ships? (Until they ran out of oak trees, just in time for steel ships.)
posted by charlesminus at 11:40 AM on December 5, 2022

Lots of what a friend of mine calls Elvish technology, much lighter in input and safer.
Sure beats Elvis Technology, which doesn't result in a particularly light output and is not exactly safe either.
posted by Pink Fuzzy Bunny at 12:55 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

charlesminus, ship framing, yes pretty much eg Knees from Trees, and when the English discovered NZ's Metrosideros / rata trees with ready made knees they started visiting purely to 'harvest' timber.
posted by unearthed at 1:27 PM on December 5, 2022 [3 favorites]

I put down strand-woven bamboo flooring in a couple of rooms. It's incredibly dense, heavy and rigid, much more so than any hardwood I've used. Wears down the blade on a mitre saw pretty quickly. But after 10 years in a bathroom (and with the aid of a factory-applied finish) it's stood up really well to daily moisture, and looks really good.

I was in a place recently where the bar was made of this. I didn't ask what exact product was used but it looked like repurposed flooring to me, and had clearly stood up to commercial bar use for some time.
posted by Dip Flash at 4:34 PM on December 5, 2022

Can you believe pandas eat this crap?
posted by counterfeitfake at 5:56 PM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]

using Y-shaped tree sections as structural connections.
Isn't that how the British built their sailing ships? (Until they ran out of oak trees, just in time for steel ships.)

'Grown knees' are a traditional method of creating structural elements of wooden boat. in my early boat-building days, I heard stories of boatbuilders shaping mangrove tree branches into the right shape as they grew so they had a steady supply of knees when they needed them.

Bamboo is an awesome material and it's a shame we really only see it used for flooring and we haven't really explored its use as it is harvested to any great degree - I remember seeing bamboo scaffolding on high-rise building under construction in Hong Kong years ago and marvelling at its strength.
posted by dg at 8:00 PM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

I am only passingly familiar with this because the concrete lobby tried to outlaw it in Los Angeles as a fire risk.
posted by klangklangston at 8:51 PM on December 5, 2022 [2 favorites]

Ikea has some bamboo products, like countertops, if you want to play around a bit with it.
posted by Harald74 at 1:28 AM on December 6, 2022 [1 favorite]