Structure of wood

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