Mechanical properties of laminated bamboo strips from Gigantochloa Scortechinii/polyester composites

In this study, the mechanical properties of culm fiber composites with various thicknesses from the inner through the outer layer of bamboo strips were investigated. This study utilized a specific type of bamboo species named Gigantochloa Scortechinii (Buluh Semantan), which was collected from the Bukit Larang village in Melaka, Malaysia. In these experiments, unsaturated polyester (UP) and bamboo fiber (BF) strips were prepared through the hand lay-up technique using 3 mm thick aluminum mould. The composite bamboo strips were prepared in 1.5-2.5 mm thicknesses. The weight of the inner, middle and outer bamboo parts varied from a minimum of 0.742 g to a maximum of 2.600 g. The specimens were then characterized using several techniques including tensile, flexural, hardness, and impact tests. The results indicated that the properties of the middle part of the bamboo strips improve as the bamboo strip thickness increases due to the incorporation of unsaturated polyesters. However, the hardness properties increase for the outer layer of the laminate. These findings suggest that bamboo strips, based on unsaturated polyesters, yield excellent mechanical properties and are a viable alternative to composite-based reinforcing fibers. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.