Abstract
Trees belong to the largest living organisms on Earth and plants in general are one of our main renewable resources. Wood as a material has been used since the beginning of humankind. Today, forestry still provides raw materials for a variety of applications, for example in the building industry, in paper manufacturing and for various wood products. However, many parts of the tree, such as reaction wood, branches and bark are often discarded as forestry residues and waste wood, used as additives in composite materials or burned for energy production. More advanced uses of bark include the extraction of chemical substances for glues, food additives or healthcare, as well as the transformation to advanced carbon materials. Here, we argue that a proper understanding of the internal fibrous structure and the resulting mechanical behaviour of these forest residues allows for the design of materials with greatly varying properties and applications. We show that simple and cheap treatments can give tree bark a leather-like appearance that can be used for the construction of shelters and even the fabrication of woven textiles.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bio-derived and bioinspired sustainable advanced materials for emerging technologies (part 1)’.
Highlights
Cellulose is the most abundant polymer on Earth and trees are a major part of this biomass
Modern forestry technologies concentrate on harvesting stems as their most valuable part, leaving reaction wood, branches and bark as forest residues and waste wood
Trees develop reaction wood in some parts of the stem as well as in branches to compensate for loads that change over time [1]
Summary
Cellulose is the most abundant polymer on Earth and trees are a major part of this biomass. Bark, can be seen as functional material even though they are still essential parts of a living organism Trees, due to their abundance and large size, are of particular interest in the context of plant materials. The wood cells (figure 2) are arranged in specific patterns (figure 3) that provide functionality, such as water and nutrient transport, storage and mechanical stability This requires a detailed physicochemical characterization and needs to be understood in the context of the sessile plant’s environmental conditions and the needs of the plant. Similar to other parts of the tree such as roots or leaves, bark is in permanent interaction with the environment and shaped by the environment and ‘bark-inhabitants’ It provides ‘housing’ for numerous other organisms: fungi, lichens, mosses, plants and animals such as insects and birds. Not surprising that its properties are highly variable— between different tree species and within species and even within a single tree
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