Abstract
This research focused on physical and mechanical properties of biocomposite made from bamboo and citric acid as natural binder. Bamboo particles was mixed with citric acid at 0 – 40 wt% resin content based on air-dried particles and each mixture was hot pressed at 180 °C for 10 min. The result showed that addition of citric acid could improve significantly the physical and mechanical properties of particleboard. The thickness swelling was 50 % for bamboo binderless particleboard (0 wt%), whereas it decreased to 7 % under a resin content of 10 wt%. The optimum resin content in this study was 30 wt%, while the modulus of rupture dan the modulus of elasticity were 14 MPa and 4.5 GPa, respectively. The ester linkages were detected by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, indicating that carboxyl groups from citric acid reacted with hydroxyl groups from bamboo to produce better properties of particleboard, especially its dimensional stability. Based on these results, it was concluded that citric acid could be as a potential natural binder for bamboo particleboard.
Highlights
Considering the environmental issues, many researches have been focusing on reduction of the synthetic adhesives in wood-based materials production
The same result was found on acacia wood and bark-molding product bonded with citric acid [2,3]
The results showed that bamboo composite bonded with citric acid had excellent water resistance and better mechanical properties compared to binderless board
Summary
Considering the environmental issues, many researches have been focusing on reduction of the synthetic adhesives in wood-based materials production. Binderless board is a product whose bonding depends mainly on the chemical composition of the raw materials without the use of adhesives. The same trends were found in bamboo particleboard [4], which the physical and mechanical properties improved significantly by the addition of citric acid up to 20 wt%. Clear bonding mechanism is still unknown until now, it is believed that ester linkages between carboxyl groups from citric acid and hydroxyl groups from wood supports the adhesion between both materials. Considering that chemical characteristic of bamboo is different with wood, FTIR analysis is conducted
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
