Bamboo strips with nodes: Composites viewpoint

Abstract

A Chinese poet once wrote, “Man can live without meat, but he will die without bamboo” because of its multifunctional and ecofriendly in nature. It has recently entered the textile and composite sector with some attractive labels such as ‘green’. The current commercial manufacturing methods of bamboo fibres and its reinforced composites are mainly based on removal of nodes portion of bamboo culm. This method generates a high amount of solid waste materials and hence the term ‘green’ becomes questionable. This chapter investigates the effects of culm nodes on strip properties from composite perspectives in order to seek their suitability for prospective fiber reinforced composites applications. In this work, strips of bamboo were collected and theirmechanical properties; for instance, tensile strength, compression, flexural, impact and thermal properties were analyzed and compared. It was found that tensile, compression, flexural and impact properties as well as thermal properties of bamboo strips were comparable to that ofwood material and far better than many other bio fibers due to their rigidity and durability.