Transparency in the Wood Engineering Lab

Transparency in the Wood Engineering Lab

Recently, several research articles have discussed the formation of transparent wood. The idea is to remove lignin from the sample, then flood the remaining cell structure with epoxy to create a translucent or transparent material. Andy Gould, a recent graduate from Sustainable Biomaterials and a current Master’s student, attempted to recreate the process for transparent wood. Working with Professor Daniel Hindman in the Wood Engineering Laboratory, Andy followed directions from several articles to produce some of the results shown below.

“Although we were able to achieve some level of transparency in our samples, it is very difficult to gauge the level of transparency in the final product because the IOR must closely or exactly match that of the cured resin. This is the fundamental problem that needs to be solved,” says Gould.

The process itself uses hydrogen peroxide and ultraviolet light in a relatively “clean” environmental process. “We also used a wood turner’s heat-activated epoxy, which did appear to have a safer handling process” says Hindman. Currently, Andy and Professor Hindman are summarizing results from the work and hope to publish some further guidance to advance the science of wood transparency.