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:
- Secured $15 million in Series A funding in 2025[2:2]
- Total capital raised exceeds $50 million[2:3]
- Formed partnership with Intectural for North American distribution[2:4]
- Initial products will focus on building facades before expanding to structural applications[3:2]
I wonder if this is the same process that nilered did a video on?
Basically they soak it in sodium hydroxide(?) to dissolve the
celluloselignin, then hot press it so the remaininglignincellulose forms a stronger, physical bond with the layers above and below. Kind of like a handshake. The remaining wood was low level bullet proof, like it could just barely stop a 9mil.*got it backwards
Yes, it’s more or less the procedure, surprisingly simple, as many times in research where we don’t see what we have in front of the noses, an super material, sostainable, easy and cheap to produce with few energy and above reduce CO2 instead of producing it. Result an material stronger than steel and even less weight than aluminium, In the near future cars and planes made of wood.
How do you join or cut these pieces of wood if they are harder than steel? Can’t drive ordinary nails or screws or saws through steel.
I think that to work with it isn’t so different as working with metal or even wood. Even if it is harder than normal steel, it won’t be a problem to drill, or cut it-
There would also be the possibility of forming the wood into a workable shape beforehand. IIRC it doesn’t shrink that much, just compresses, so it’s possible to have holes and angles where you need them; joinerery would be an issue though.
As much as I wish the claims are true, it sounds like too good to be true
Very cool, I’m cautiously optimistic.
I wonder how competitive the material is on price. If it’s close or better than alternatives, then the bus will basically drive itself on adoption, which would be fantastic.
By reading the production process, I think it’s going to be cheaper to build a factory that produces this kind of material instead of a foundry for melting metal. It all depends on what are the limits of the manifacture (eg. how long/large/thin/thick my pieces can be, what kinds of wood can be used, how to source it and stuff like that)
They are using fast growing wood, like eg. pine, no need of an special natural hard wood.
The termites in your house: challenge accepted
Fun clip, but if you talk about Pounds instead of Kilograms then a pound of gold is heavier than a pount of feathers because gold is measured in troy pounds, which are about 20% heavier than Imperial pounds
Is it a new GMO wood or a processed wood? If so what process?
From their webpage.
Seems similar to this ↓ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyDB-_GvQ9o
This gives “Woodman” a whole new meaning >:]
