A comprehensive review of metallic wood fabricated via alloy impregnation

Metallic wood, fabricated through the impregnation of a wood scaffold with a molten low-melting-point alloy (LMPA), combines the unique properties of both wood and metal. Metallic wood exhibits excellent mechanical strength, dimensional stability, anisotropic conductivity, electromagnetic shielding, energy storage, and corrosion resistance. Despite growing interest in metallic wood, research in this area remains fragmented and lacks a comprehensive overview. This review elucidates the historical development and preparation techniques of metallic wood, while also highlighting its potential applications and future research directions. It has been found that lignin removal or microwave puffing pretreatment techniques can effectively increase metal filling amount. High – low temperature cyclic impregnation method can also achieve better metallization effect. Indeed, metallic wood has significant potential for applications in construction, decoration, electronics, and thermal management. However, it faces several challenges, including preparation technology, interfacial compatibility, structure – property – application relationships, multifunctionality, and input – output balance strategies. This paper provides valuable guidance for future studies on metallic wood, enabling full utilization of its properties.