A photo from open sources
Until recently, no one could have thought that polystyrene, this in all respects an unsurpassed heat insulator, can to be, as they say, out of work. After all, the foam is light, absolutely non-toxic to humans, but completely unacceptable for bacteria and other small animals.
But this optimal thermal insulation material was found a serious flaw that has become a threat to … the environment, since the foam does not decompose in vivo, but therefore, gradually more and more pollutes our planet.
A group of American scientists at the University of Maryland at College Park has long been working on finding a replacement for foam (expanded polystyrene), and recently they have obtained a worthy alternative him: material is inexpensive (made from waste), readily available and, most importantly, able to easily compete with the former popular heat insulator in all respects, naturally surpassing it in ecological plan.
A photo from open sources
This fantastic insulating material has become – ordinary wood. Or rather, it differs from the usual one in that lignin and transverse cellulose strands were removed from it, due to which it turned out nano-wood. Nanowood – flexible and ultralight surpassing plastic foam many times in all respects, in including thermal insulation.
Nanowood, moreover, is thirty times more effective than polystyrene, as and silicone airgel, in terms of deformation (super flexible and superplastic). Moreover, the range of applications of nanowood is many wider than foam, for example, it can be used for pipe insulation instead of glass wool, unlike the latter wood is not harmful and not scary even for the most sensitive allergy sufferers.
Therefore, the creators of the new thermal insulation material are sure that the potential of Nanowood is huge, its further use save billions of dollars, but not even that: nano-wood easily decomposes in vivo, and therefore harmless to the environment.
