Tougher than steel: Japan looks to wood pulp to make lighter auto parts

[rangerrebew]

#Science News
August 14, 2017 / 6:08 PM / 7 days ago
Tougher than steel: Japan looks to wood pulp to make lighter auto parts



KYOTO, Japan (Reuters) - The global push among carmakers to make ever lighter vehicles is leading some auto suppliers in Japan to turn to what seems like an unlikely substitute for steel - wood.

Japanese researchers and auto component makers say a material made from wood pulp weighs just one fifth of steel and can be five times stronger.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-japan-wood-idUSKCN1AU2FX

[driftdiver]

My car got termites

[Oceander]

Back to the future: early cars were built on wooden frames.

[Mad Max]

Back to the future: early cars were built on wooden frames.

I can only think of three World War Two planes that was built using wood.The de Havilland Mosquito, one of the most successful aircraft of World War Two, had an airframe composed entirely of wood. In World War Two? As odd as it seems the answer is ‘yes’. The fuselage of the Mosquito was made of balsa wood pressed between two layers of cedar plywood. The rest of the airframe was made of spruce, with plywood covering. The wing was built in one piece, and attached to the lower side of the fuselage structure. The aircraft wasn’t very big: 41 feet long with a wingspan of 54 feet.The Me323V2 was built with a wooden frame.The Me323 had a high wing made of wood and fabric that was braced near the center of the wing and fuselage. The fuselage was built out of a tubular metal skeleton with wooden cross-beams and fabric covering.The Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger (German, "People's Fighter"), the name of a project of the Emergency Fighter Program design competition, was a German single-engine, jet-powered fighter aircraft fielded by the Luftwaffe in World War II. Designed and built quickly, and made primarily of wood as metals were in very short supply. The He 162 was nevertheless the fastest of the first generation of Axis and Allied jet. The Germans used a epoxy to glue the wooden frames to the sheets of metal. It was flight tested and may have scored a victory in battle.

http://www.world-war-2-planes.com/he-162.html
http://www.historynet.com/the-miraculous-mosquito.htm
http://www.bombercommandmuseum.ca/mosquito.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_323

[thackney]

I can only think of three World War Two planes that was built using wood.

Built, but not used:

http://www.evergreenmuseum.org/the-spruce-goose

[Mad Max]

Built, but not used:

http://www.evergreenmuseum.org/the-spruce-goose

I have seen the "Spruce Goose" when they had it at Long Beach harbor next to the Queen Mary. My father took me to see it when I was a kid.