DEPARTMENT OF ARCHI

TECTURE

TRANSPARENT
NATI
ONAL I
NSTITUTE OF
TECHNOLOGY HAMIRPUR,H.P.

W OOD

Transparentwoodisagoodmat eri
alforsol
arcel
ls,si
nceit’sa l
ow- cost
,readi
ly
avai
labl
eandrenewableresource.Thi
sbecomesparti
cularl
yimportantincoveri
ng
l
argesurf aceswi
thsol
arcell
s.

Transparentwoodwi l
lprovi
deanexcel lentwayforbuilderstobri
ngmorel i
ghtint
o
thei
rprojects.Becausethistransparentwoodisst rongerthanstandardgl
ass
i
tcouldbeusedf orloadbeari
ngwi ndows,fori
nstance.
Transparentwoodcomposi
tesarenovelwoodmat eri
alswhi
chhaveupto90% Archi
tectswillbeinauniqueposi
ti
ont
odream upnew wayst
obri
ngi
nmorel
ight
transparencyandhi
ghermechani
calpropert
iest
hanwoodi t
sel
f,madef
orthef
irst whi
lemaintai
ningpri
vacy.
timein1992.

A researchgroupl edbyProf essorLarsBerglundf rom SwedishKTH Uni versit

y
al
ongwi thaUni versi
tyofMaryl andresearchgroupl edbyProf essorLi angbing
Huhavedevel opedamet hodt oremovet hecolorandsomechemi calsfrom smal l
bl
ocksofwood,f ol
lowedbyaddi ngpolymers,suchasPol y(methylmet hacrylate)
andepoxy,att hecel l
ularl
evel,t
herebyrenderi
ngt hem transparent.

"W oodisbyf arthemostusedbi o-basedmateriali

nbuildi
ngs.I
t'sattract
ivethat
themat eri
alcomesfrom renewablesources.I
tal sooff
ersexcellentmechani
cal
propert
ies,incl
udi
ngstrength,toughness,l
ow densit
yandl ow t
hermalconducti
vit
y."

Thesci
entif
icapproachadoptedbythetwoteamsofresearchersi
sverysi
mil
ar.
Fi
rst
ly,theydissol
vedtheligni
nmol
ecul
esfrom t
hewood.

Theyareresponsi
bleforboththebrowncolouroft
hemat eri
alandalsoanopaci tysomewherebet
ween80 and95 percent
.Duringwhatisreferredt
oasdel i
gni
fi
cati
on SCALE DRAW N DATE CHCKED
awhitewoodiscreated.Inorderf
oritt obecometransparent,theresearcherscoatedthecel
lstruct
ureswi
thsynt
heti
cpolymers,of
tenknownasPl exi
glass.Theresearchers
N/A
coul
dseethroughtheresult
ingmateri
al,whi
chwast wiceasst rongasPl exi
glass.
ASS.NO.:

St
ep1
: St
ep2: St
ep3: St
ep4: St
ep5: St
ep6: St
ep7: St
ep8: St
ep9: St
ep1
0:
Materi
als Prepthe Di
ssolvet
he Bl
eacht
he Preservet
he Seti
nEpoxy Vacuum t
he LetCure Resul
ts I
mprovement
s
andRecipe Bath Li
gni
n Col
or W ood Epoxy