Tensile properties of bamboo in different sizes

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of specimen size on the mechanical properties of bamboo. Single bamboo fibers and bamboo fiber bundles obtained from both chemical retting and mechanical retting were tested. The tensile strength of chemically retted single bamboo fiber was 47.6 % higher than that of the mechanically retted fibers. The tensile strength of the chemically retted fiber bundles was over 2.1 times higher than that of the mechanically retted one, while the tensile modulus was almost 1.4 times higher. For the chemical retting, the fiber bundles were 65.7 % less in tensile strength compared to the single fiber, 12.3 % less for the tensile modulus, and 9.7 % less for the elongation. For the mechanical retting, the tensile strength, tensile modulus and elongation of fiber bundles were 68.8, 52.3 and 60.9 % lower than that of the single fibers, respectively. Compared with single bamboo fibers and bamboo fiber bundles, the tensile strength of bamboo strips was reduced by 67.7 and 3.3 %, respectively. The modulus of bamboo fiber bundles was 42.7 % less compared to the single bamboo fibers, and 16.9 % higher compared to the bamboo fiber bundles. The mechanical properties of bamboo strips were lower than that of samples made from outer portion of the bamboo, but higher than that of samples made from inner portion of the bamboo.