Cuts help tape stick better and sustainable glue is even stronger underwater.
Now, an Austrian-based research team is looking to skip the adhesive stage with two patent-pending techniques for joining wood and other materials.
For more complex objects, a polymer composite is applied directly onto wood using 3D-printing. The material flows into the wood pores, the wood fibres become embedded in the material, and an adhesive bond ensues.
For spot joints, high frequency ultrasound makes wood vibrate underneath a solid polymer composite. This generates friction which melts the surface of the plastic.
It permeates through the wood pores, binding both materials at molecular level. Suitable for furniture and car or aeroplane construction.
Complex EV batteries can also be 3D-printed.
