In the United States, scientists have created a knife made of wood, which is three times sharper than stainless steel devices made of wood. The products created using the new technology turned out to be three times sharper than knives made of stainless steel familiar to humans, reports EurekAlert.
Chemists from the University of Maryland in the United States have removed from the tree its “weak part” that makes it soft – hemicellulose and lignin. – retaining the structure of cellulose, making it 23 times stronger. It is noted that after the removal of lignin, the wood became more flexible and brittle, but this problem was solved by pressing the material at a high temperature. Finally, specialists coated the finished material with mineral oil to prevent water from absorbing into the wood.
As a result, cutlery was made from the treated wood, with which they repeatedly cut medium-rare steaks and washed like any other kitchen utensils. However, he did not lose his properties. The researchers assured that knives made of such a tree can be sharpened in the same way as metal ones.
Earlier it became known that in Yakutia, experts in the field of chemical technologies and materials science, with the support of the Arctic Innovation Center of the Ammosov NEFU, have created a unique frost-resistant material capable of withstanding temperatures from minus 70 to plus 200 degrees.