Wood Material Technology
The Research Group for Wood Material Technology (Prof. Mark Hughes)
Wood is a truly renewable material that, unlike many other materials, requires little energy to convert it into functional products. Synthesised from sunlight and carbon dioxide, trees sequester atmospheric CO2 during growth and when converted to wood products, the carbon is stored away until the “trapped” carbon is released by burning or natural biodegradation. This means that long-lasting wooden structures and artefacts can help reduce carbon dioxide emissions and make a positive contribution to combatting Climate Change. Wood has many other attributes too. In addition to being an excellent structural material it can act as moisture buffer, helping to control the interior environment of buildings. It is also a good thermal and sound insulator as well as visually appealing. Wood also forms the basis of a range of wood-composite products that can be extremely resource efficient and its properties can be modified to provide new functionality. Finally, unlike money, wood really does grow on trees!
The Wood Material Technology group, headed by Professor Mark Hughes, provides teaching and conducts research in the area of wood technology. The group has strong links with the wood processing industry in Finland and abroad as well as having strong collaborations with other research groups both nationally and internationally.
Teaching in wood technology now forms part of the Bioproduct Technology degree programme. It is continually being developed to ensure that students are given the most up-to-date education in this rapidly evolving field. As such, the teaching carried out very much reflects the research activities of the group. As part of Aalto Wood - the collaboration between the departments of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Forest Products Technology - we contribute to the multi-disciplinary education of students of architecture, civil and structural engineering, believing that there is huge potential for wood to contribute to a more sustainable future.
For further information, please contact Professor Mark Hughes, email mark.hughes [at] tkk [dot] fi (mark.hughes@aalto.fi), or any of the staff.