InventWood’s Superwood represents a breakthrough material that transforms ordinary wood into a substance stronger than steel through molecular restructuring and densification[1]. The company is launching a 90,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Frederick, Maryland in Q3 2025 to begin commercial production[2].
Key features of Superwood:
- 50% more tensile strength than steel with 10x better strength-to-weight ratio[3]
- Fire-resistant, rot-resistant, and pest-resistant while maintaining wood’s natural appearance[2:1]
- Created through a two-step process involving chemical treatment and hot-pressing[4]
- Can be produced in hours rather than weeks using “food industry” chemicals[3:1]
Environmental Impact:
- Could replace up to 80% of global steel and concrete use[5]
- Potential to reduce carbon emissions by 37.2 gigatons over 30 years[5:1]
- Trees act as carbon stores: steel produces 1.85 kg CO2 per kilogram, while wood removes 1.8 kg CO2[5:2]
Business Development:
Initial products will focus on building facades before expanding to structural applications
Isn’t that a pretty pointless first application for a material that’s (presumably) significantly more expensive than ordinary wood and which barely benefits from the extra strength? A facade doesn’t need to be super strong and the higher density will probably also lead to a worse insulation.
Ordinary wood cannot be used for building facades due to fire hazards. The treated version is fire resistant.
Thanks for the info. Were all the wooden facades and houses that are existing for ages then treated with a special fire retardant?
I assume it’s talking about high rise and commercial buildings. You don’t want a 50 story building catching fire like a roman candle because somebody dropped a ciggie in the wrong spot. Most such buildings currently use steel cladding for that reason.
That makes sense, but it’s at least not what they currently advertise on their homepage.
Cool. Now how much will it cost compared to steel?
Definitely more, in the short term. If only because steel mills operate at phenomenal scale, and are decades old and thus have long since paid off their mortgages.
The pressing process of the wood takes a couple of hours, and while it’s really impressive that they got it down from a week, that means they’ll need a lot of presses to scale the whole thing up. Which means $$$, and realistically means they ought to throw a lot more $$$ at reducing the pressing time needed before they can undercut steel.
There’s definitely potential though - steel takes a fuckton of energy (1500 degrees IIRC) whereas this wood only requires 100ish degrees and some constant pressure. And energy is money, and chopping down your major input 15x is amazing. If they can solve the manufacturing speed problem, then they’re undercutting steel even if they don’t win on material properties.
Epoxies can be used in food grade vessels or equipment. I imagine they may be a component. While I love epoxies (I have built three small wood/fiberglass/Epoxi composite small boats), they are essentially future nano-plastic garbage.
Sounds more like an industrialized version of this process? Lots of chemical washing and processing but it doesn’t use plastics.
Could be. I’m just guessing.
