STRUCTURE OF WOOD

Wood is the wonder material. For millennia civilisations have grown an d died in parallel with their trees (as is described in the Bible). Fo r beams and plates of a given stiffness or strength, or for a column o f a given resistance to buckling, wood is among the most efficient mat erials available. This mechanical efficiency arises from a combination of composite and cellular microstructures. Modern techniques of mater ials testing at small scales and advanced computer modelling are provi ding us with a better insight into the structure and design of wood. E ventually the hope is to genetically develop trees producing wood more closely tailored to our needs, for instance in the production of pape r with a lower input of processing energy.