Welding Wood and Future of Wood 3D Printing

Can you weld wood? it looks like you can. It can be done by applying friction and mechanical vibration in what is known as friction welding. The cellulose and lignin in wood melt at some 180 C and bond together forming a welded seam.
The weld seam has a simillar strength to glued one. It also means that no more toxic glues and adhesives should be used to bond wooden parts.


Here is video presentation of wood welding :





This technology could be used in 3d printing in same way some industrial metal printers use sheet lamination induced by ultrasonic vibration. It could be also used in FDM as the same process could be used to "melt" the wood and extrude it in layers.

Here are several links to more articles and papers about it:

http://www.nordicforestresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/NV_2005_4.pdf

http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=s0718-221x2003000200001&script=sci_arttext

http://web.utk.edu/~mtaylo29/pages/Wood%20welding.htm

Austrian company that already extrudes wood mass:

http://www.wood-kplus.at/index.html

Reddit thread:

https://www.reddit.com/r/woodworking/comments/3ox7dv/linear_friction_welding_of_wood/

Two pieces of wood with welding seam from friction welding