Team develops a family of bioinspired artificial woods from traditional resins

Nature has provided the inspiration for the design and fabrication of high-performance biomimetic engineering materials. Wood, which has been used for thousands of years, has received considerable attention due to the low density and high strength. A unique anisotropic cellular structure endows wood with outstanding mechanical performance. In recent decades, researchers have developed monolithic materials with anisotropic cellular structures attempting to mimic wood. However, these reported artificial wood-like materials suffer from unsatisfactory mechanical properties. It is still a significant challenge to fabricate artificial wood-like materials with the lightweight and high-strength properties of real wood.