COMPARATIVE PERFORMANCE OF PHENOL FORMALDEHYDE-BONDED LAMINATED BAMBOO LUMBER AND BAMBOO STRAND LUMBER PREPARED FROM FOUR DIFFERENT BAMBOO SPECIES

Bamboo is an eco-friendly lignocellulosic material which gained much interest for its utilisation as structural material in the composite form after processing. The processing method used for bamboo composite fabrication has significant effect on its performance. The current work emphasises on studying the effect of fabrication method and species on the important physical and mechanical properties of bamboo composites. In the present study, two types of composites namely laminated bamboo lumber and bamboo strand lumber were prepared using four bamboo species such as Dendrocalamus brandisii, Bambusa vulgaris, Bambusa bambos and Guadua angustifolia. Various physical and mechanical properties were evaluated. The results showed the physical properties such as water absorption, thickness swelling and volumetric swelling of laminated bamboo lumber were significantly lower as compared to bamboo strand lumber composites after 2 and 24 hours of exposures. The mechanical properties such as MOR, MOE and compressive strength parallel to grain were observed to be significantly higher in laminated bamboo lumber as compared to bamboo strand lumber composites. The results also revealed that the method of fabrication as well as species significantly affect the physical and mechanical properties of the bamboo composites.