{"id":750,"date":"2014-07-01T10:25:05","date_gmt":"2014-07-01T16:25:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=750"},"modified":"2022-04-18T08:36:18","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T14:36:18","slug":"lighter-wood-stronger-concrete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/","title":{"rendered":"What is lighter than wood but stronger than concrete?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Researchers at Harvard University have made strides in the 3D printing world by developing a method to to print cellular composites. They are using an epoxy resin that has a record lightness and<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/a>
Image courtesy of Brett G. Compton, Harvard University<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

stiffness for a material in it’s class.\u00a0The Harvard published article<\/a> states”that\u00a0that their technique yields cellular composites that are as stiff as wood, 10 to 20 times stiffer than commercial 3D-printed polymers, and twice as strong as the best printed polymer composites. The ability to control the alignment of the fillers means that fabricators can digitally integrate the composition, stiffness, and toughness of an object with its design.”<\/p>\n

Principal investigator Jennifer Lewis looked to balsa wood for inspiration, saying “Balsa wood has a cellular architecture that minimizes its weight since most of the space is empty and only the cell walls carry the load. It therefore has a high specific stiffness and strength\u201d. Balsa wood is one of the materials that is an outlier when you compare strength to density. In their post<\/a>, Gizmag explains that typically, ”\u00a0density and strength always seem to go hand-in-hand. The very light foams are generally extremely weak, and on the other end of the spectrum, the heavy materials like steels and other metals are among the strongest we know”.<\/p>\n

But there is a big problem; balsa wood is in seriously short supply. Everything that demands a light but strong structure, from\u00a0wind turbine blades to to model airplanes, is limited Ecuador, which has 95% of the worlds stock. Demand is a driver of innovation, and the new printing method was developed.<\/p>\n

Suspected uses for this new technology include wind turbines, lighter and safer cars, and anything that requires a structural application.<\/p>\n

What challenges do you face when picking materials<\/a> that are both light and strong?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers at Harvard University have made strides in the 3D printing world by developing a method to to print cellular composites. They are using an epoxy resin that has a record lightness and stiffness for a material in it’s class.\u00a0The … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[1237],"class_list":{"0":"post-750","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-plastics","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nWhat is lighter than wood but stronger than concrete?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Using balsa wood for inspiration, researchers at Harvard have developed a method to 3D print materials that are both light and strong\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is lighter than wood but stronger than concrete?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Using balsa wood for inspiration, researchers at Harvard have developed a method to 3D print materials that are both light and strong\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Prospector Knowledge Center\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-07-01T16:25:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-18T14:36:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2014\/07\/honeycomb.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest Author\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest Author\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/750\\\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/750\\\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Guest Author\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9085be4b12b9b306a72726c67d147c10\"},\"headline\":\"What is lighter than wood but stronger than concrete?\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-01T16:25:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-18T14:36:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/750\\\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":318,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/750\\\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/media\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/honeycomb.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Plastics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/750\\\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/750\\\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\\\/\",\"name\":\"What is lighter than wood but stronger than concrete?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/750\\\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/750\\\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/media\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/honeycomb.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-07-01T16:25:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-18T14:36:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9085be4b12b9b306a72726c67d147c10\"},\"description\":\"Using balsa wood for inspiration, researchers at Harvard have developed a method to 3D print materials that are both light and strong\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/750\\\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/750\\\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/750\\\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/media\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/honeycomb.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/media\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/honeycomb.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/750\\\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is lighter than wood but stronger than concrete?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Prospector Knowledge Center\",\"description\":\"Welcome to the blog for UL Prospector, the most comprehensive raw material search engine for product developers.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9085be4b12b9b306a72726c67d147c10\",\"name\":\"Guest Author\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=9615105800a0270a384212262298083881\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96\",\"caption\":\"Guest Author\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ulprospector.ul.com\\\/author\\\/guest-author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is lighter than wood but stronger than concrete?","description":"Using balsa wood for inspiration, researchers at Harvard have developed a method to 3D print materials that are both light and strong","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is lighter than wood but stronger than concrete?","og_description":"Using balsa wood for inspiration, researchers at Harvard have developed a method to 3D print materials that are both light and strong","og_url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/","og_site_name":"Prospector Knowledge Center","article_published_time":"2014-07-01T16:25:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-18T14:36:18+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2014\/07\/honeycomb.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Guest Author","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guest Author","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/"},"author":{"name":"Guest Author","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9085be4b12b9b306a72726c67d147c10"},"headline":"What is lighter than wood but stronger than concrete?","datePublished":"2014-07-01T16:25:05+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-18T14:36:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/"},"wordCount":318,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2014\/07\/honeycomb.png","articleSection":["Plastics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/","url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/","name":"What is lighter than wood but stronger than concrete?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2014\/07\/honeycomb.png","datePublished":"2014-07-01T16:25:05+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-18T14:36:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9085be4b12b9b306a72726c67d147c10"},"description":"Using balsa wood for inspiration, researchers at Harvard have developed a method to 3D print materials that are both light and strong","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2014\/07\/honeycomb.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/media\/2014\/07\/honeycomb.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/750\/lighter-wood-stronger-concrete\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What is lighter than wood but stronger than concrete?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/","name":"Prospector Knowledge Center","description":"Welcome to the blog for UL Prospector, the most comprehensive raw material search engine for product developers.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/#\/schema\/person\/9085be4b12b9b306a72726c67d147c10","name":"Guest Author","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=9615105800a0270a384212262298083881","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","caption":"Guest Author"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com"],"url":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/author\/guest-author\/"}]}},"authors":[{"term_id":1237,"user_id":20,"is_guest":0,"slug":"guest-author","display_name":"Guest Author","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536?s=96","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}