Effect of Mimosa Grafting on Anatomy, Chemical Composition and Tensile Properties of Bamboo Fiber

Abstract

The current study presents systematic and improved methodologies to characterize elementary bamboo fiber grafted with mimosa. For that, bamboo culm anatomy was observed under scanning electron microscopy (SEM), chemical analysis was conducted and tensile properties were measured. During surface analysis, smoother surface was found for grafted fiber compared to the control fiber. No significant change in chemical composition was observed after grafting. The tensile strength of control bamboo fiber and mimosa grafted fiber were found to be 882±307 MPa and 978.29±283 MPa respectively. The Young’s modulus for 5, 10, 15, 25 and 35 mm span lengths for control fiber were 10.41±4.52, 17.90±7.67, 23.67±8.66, 29.49±4.78 and 33.52±11.04 GPa respectively, while the same for mimosa grafted fiber were found to be 12.31±4.52, 20.37±7.67, 24.82±8.66, 31.49±4.78 and 35.82±11.04 GPa respectively. After correction the Young’s modulus was found to be 33.86 and 44.45 GPa for control and grafted fiber respectively. Strain to failure of bamboo fiber was found to be 3.90% found for original sample and 2.32% for grafted sample. Thus it can be concluded that mimosa grafting seems to be useful for stronger bamboo fiber with more reliable results.