In the Alpine regions of Europe, wooden shingles have been used for generations to cover roofs and walls.
These shingles are made by splitting logs along the natural grain of the wood—a method that uses little energy and wastes very little material.
Now, scientists at Empa and ETH Zurich have taken inspiration from this age-old craft to develop a new way of making strong, sustainable wood panels.
With climate change putting more pressure on forests and the construction industry, finding better ways to use wood is more important than ever.
Ingo Burgert, a professor at ETH Zurich and team leader at Empa, believes that splitting wood—rather than sawing it—can offer major advantages.
This technique makes it possible to use different types and qualities of wood, including hardwoods that are more resistant to drought.
In Central Europe, spruce has been a common wood for construction. But with longer dry periods, other types of trees, like hardwoods, are becoming more important.
Right now, most hardwood in the region is burned for energy, even though it could be used in buildings to store carbon and help fight climate change.
Traditional shingle-making uses high-quality softwood, but Burgert’s team has found a way to adapt the method for hardwoods and lower-grade wood.
They created a two-step process where logs are first split into flat sections and then further broken down into sticks of the right size. In the lab, they even modified a firewood splitter with a special multi-blade head so they could make several sticks in one go.
The result is wooden pieces that follow the natural grain of the wood, keeping its strength. But these sticks can be oddly shaped, which makes building with them more complicated.
To solve this, the team turned to artificial intelligence.
They built an automated camera system that takes high-resolution images of each stick. A computer program then analyzes the images to learn about the wood’s stiffness and other important qualities, no matter the shape, size, or type.
Even without sorting the sticks beforehand, the first sample panels showed promise. They were strong enough to be used in load-bearing parts of buildings and could be made with very little waste.
The researchers say that with more work, including improvements in bonding and large-scale production, their method could lead to a new kind of eco-friendly wood material.
Burgert is hopeful. He believes this process offers a sustainable way to use wood more wisely at a time when forests and the environment are under growing stress from climate change.
