Properties of plybamboo manufactured from two Malaysian bamboo species—

Abstract

Abstract The aim of the presented investigation was to explore the physical and mechanical properties of plybamboo manufactured from two Malaysian commercial bamboo species – Gigantochloa levis (beting) and Gigantochloa scortechinii (semantan). Three-layer-plybamboo with dimensions of 12 × 350 × 350 mm was fabricated using melamine urea formaldehyde (MUF) as a binder. The moisture content, thickness swelling, water absorption, linear expansion parallel and perpendicular to the grain were done for determination of the physical properties. Whereas, mechanical properties were evaluated via bonding shear strength, modulus of rupture (MOR) and modulus of elasticity (MOE) and compression strength parallel to the grain. Results indicated that semantan plybamboo exhibited excellent mechanical properties along with better bond shear strength than beting plybamboo. MOR and MOE value for semantan and beting plybamboo were 130.86 N/mm2, 19661.30 N/mm2, 115.92 N/mm2 and 25331.5 N/mm2, respectively. Moreover, the findings proved that the properties of both plybamboo satisfy the minimum standard requirement stipulated in the Malaysian Standard.