Wood pulp extract stronger than carbon fiber or Kevlar

linky

SCIENCE!!!!!!!!!

This is pretty freaking amazing.
Stronger than kevlar. And cheaper.
Now maybe our troops can actually get some adequate body armor.

The Forest Products Laboratory of the US Forest Service has opened a US$1.7 million pilot plant for the production of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) from wood by-products materials such as wood chips and sawdust. Prepared properly, CNCs are stronger and stiffer than Kevlar or carbon fibers, so that putting CNC into composite materials results in high strength, low weight products. In addition, the cost of CNCs is less than ten percent of the cost of Kevlar fiber or carbon fiber. These qualities have attracted the interest of the military for use in lightweight armor and ballistic glass (CNCs are transparent), as well as companies in the automotive, aerospace, electronics, consumer products, and medical industries.

Here are some comparisons

Material...........................Elastic Modulus................Tensile Strength
CNC......................................150 GPa.............................7.5 GPa
Kevlar 49..............................125 GPa.............................3.5 GPa
Carbon fiber.........................150 GPa.............................3.5 GPa
Carbon nanotubes..............300 GPa............................20 GPa
Stainless steel.....................200 GPa............................0.5 GPa
Oak..........................................10 GPa.............................0.1 GPa

Between the IRS buying hundreds of thousands of bullets and US Forestry service manufacturing body armor this country is sounding more and more like some scifi-esque "warrior" race.

What a triumph, lets give soldiers better equipment to fight more pointless wars, by chopping down more trees.

We don't deserve this planet.

reply to post by thisguyrighthere

Between the IRS buying hundreds of thousands of bullets and US Forestry service manufacturing body armor this country is sounding more and more like some scifi-esque "warrior" race.

Not sure why the IRS purchasing ammunition is at all relevant. That small amount of ammunition sounds like three years' worth of training evolutions.

The U.S. forestry service would, also, not be manufacturing body armor. They have merely set aside a region to farm trees to develop this material - which has a wide range of uses.

Though the U.S. is, perhaps, one of the closest we have to a country consistent with a "warrior race." People will always be fighting and killing each other (or something else, perhaps). Making the process a science seems only natural.

Though people have a strange way of believing they are able to tell the functional and natural universe what perfection really is.

reply to post by nostromo85

What a triumph, lets give soldiers better equipment to fight more pointless wars, by chopping down more trees.

We don't deserve this planet.

It's alright. Your blood line will not be incorporated into the future. You and your descendants will not have to suffer through it.

Realistically, though - one would farm these trees and build these fibers from material that is currently thrown out or sent to rot for years before it cools enough to be used as fertilizer. Wood and various plants will always be a valuable resource to humans. Plants are chemical processing facilities that operate far more efficiently than any human construct to date.