Scientists at the German Fraunhofer Institute managed to build a 100% wooden foam that can replace traditional wood in manufacturing, but this time they have developed a hybrid foam of wood and metal that beat old materials with its durability and weightlessness.
Scientists say that such foam can enter the world of industry and construction from its widest door, thanks to its durability and low production costs. It can also be used as a middle layer in a "sandwich" of semiconductor materials in the microelectronic industry.
Many of Fraunhofer's Institutes, including The Wood Research Institute, The New Materials Production Institute and The Institute for Applied Materials and Research, participated in the production of the new foamy material which has the features of both metal and wood.
Dr. Frauke Bunzel from Fraunhofer Mother Institute (which involves 70 specialized institutes), said that the new foam is non-foldable, which makes it better than most metals and qualifies it to be used between two layers of metal to provide it with an anti-bending property.
The new material is also suitable for construction because of its durability, light weight and ability to absorb noise, along with a complete thermal isolation without being affected by heat and fire. And because of its acoustic insulation, the new foam can be used to build engines and vehicles to reduce noise, or to build sound barriers on highways.
The same properties allow the new material to be used in the cladding of facades and ceilings of houses as well, to provide them with the ability to curb noise and resist atmosphere fluctuations.
It was not easy to mix the wooden foam with metal, Bunzel said. Scientists initially tried to compress the foam by force into the pores of rigid metal foam, but this led the bubbles to enter the metal pores and the wooden fiber to outflow. In a second step, the scientists successfully combined the foam by using the "hammering" technique.
