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In recent years, from an environmental perspective, there has been increasing interest in the change to a sustainable society. The use of natural-fiber-reinforced biodegradable composites has been proposed as one solution. Bamboo is an often used renewable bio-resource; it has an inherent advantage of rapid growth. Polybutylene succinate (PBS), used as matrix resin, has biodegradable characteristics. This paper describes flexural properties of bamboo/PBS composites prepared by injection molding. The following results were obtained. The flexural modulus was improved with increasing bamboo powder contents when the cylinder temperature of the injection molder was 140°C. However, the flexural strength showed the opposite tendency to be decreased with increasing bamboo powder contents. An SEM photomicrograph of the fracture surface for bamboo/PBS composites showed typical fracture behavior of pull-out fibers without fiber fracture. Furthermore, there was no adhesion of PBS resin on the bamboo fiber surface. Processing conditions affected mechanical properties of bamboo/PBS composites, imparting higher flexural strength and flexural modulus at high cylinder temperatures such as 180°C and 200°C.

Bamboo material is widely used in outdoor applications. However, they are easily degraded when exposed to sunlight, their smooth surface will gradually turn to rough, and small cracks will appear and finally develop to large cracks. The paper presents a first-time investigation on the microstructure changes in the tangential section of Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens Mazel) radiated by artificial UV light. The results showed that the cracks mainly appeared at intercellular spaces of fibers where lignin content was high, the parenchyma cell walls and neighbor pits where the cell wall was very thin and more vulnerable than the other parts. In addition, the part of raised area and pit cavity tended to absorb more UV light radiation and showed more and larger cracks than the otherwhere. Cracks at the intercellular spaces of fibers were larger and bigger than those on the parenchyma cell walls. The cracks on the pits of the parenchyma cell walls normally appeared at one pit and then extended to the several surrounding pits. Bordered pits cavity showed more and larger cracks than the pits on the thin wall cells. The simple pits on the thick wall cells and the fiber cells were unaffected by UV radiation.

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In this paper, we attempted to prepare the binderless green composite using bamboo fiber and steam-exploded bamboo powder as matrix. The influence of molding conditions on their tensile behavior was investigated by changing the molding temperature, pressure and time. Except for the composites molded at low temperatures from 100°C to 120°C, their tensile strength decreased with increasing the molding temperature. When the molding time increased, their tensile strength decreased. Average tensile strength of the binderless bamboo green composite molded at 120°C and 10 MPa for 10 min was 170 MPa. The decreases in tensile strength of binderless composites molded at temperatures higher than 120°C may be responsible for the strength drop of the reinforcing bamboo fiber derived from thermal decomposition. In order to obtain detailed information about the adhesion behavior of bamboo powder and bamboo fiber, photomicrographs were taken of the fracture surfaces of the composites. The results show that molding condition, especially molding temperature, has a great effect on the mechanical properties of bamboo fiber reinforced binderless green composites.

This paper deals with the adhesion strength of laminated bamboo composites fabricated only from steam-exploded bamboo plates by using a hot-pressing method. The adhesion strength of laminated bamboo composites were evaluated by a short beam bending teats. The effects of molding conditions on the shear strength were examined by changing the molding temperature, time, and pressure. The optimum molding conditions of the laminated bamboo composites are 140°C, 30 min. and 10 MPa among the conditions investigated. The maximum shear strength of the laminated bamboo composites was approximately 46 MPa, and this value is comparable to that of single plate bamboo composites without lamination.

Based on the exploration of design possibilities of integrated bamboos, this paper briefly analyzes relevant features of bamboo, introduces relevant conditions of bamboo application and the orientation of expanded application of bamboo, puts forward a way of installation art creation and lamp design based on the purpose of experimental teaching, introduces the specific technological process of making bamboo lamps by connecting renewable paper strings to the integrated bamboos, points out the limitations of expanded application of integrated bamboos, and looks forward the future of bamboo application.

Bamboo is a natural resource that has the potential to be a substitute of steel reinforcement in reinforced concrete. This paper presents a study on the mechanical properties of bamboo as well as the behaviour of bamboo-reinforced concrete beams. Six bamboo samples were tested for compressive strength and tensile tests, respectively. In terms of structural properties, three reinforced concrete beams were tested to failure under four-point bending, which includes a control beam, a fully and partially reinforced beams with bamboo. Results of mechanical properties showed that bamboo with nodes has higher capability to be able to resist compressive loading compared to bamboo without node. On the other hand, tensile results revealed that bamboo splint managed to achieve 12.5% of the stress of high yield steel with comparable strain value. Results of structural properties showed that beam reinforced with bamboo can achieve approximately 46% of the beam capacity of the steel reinforced beam. Bamboo reinforced concrete beams failed in a brittle manner under bending with vertical cracks in the tension zone.