Engineered bamboo scrimber: Influence of density on the mechanical and water absorption properties

Engineered bamboo scrimber has processed from the raw bamboo culm into a compressed or laminated product with thermosetting resin in the density range of 800-1200 kg/m3. The present work investigates the mechanical properties of commercially available engineered bamboo scrimber and compares the results of present work with the existing results in the literature. The main aim of this work is to investigate the influence of bamboo scrimber densities on the mechanical properties. The strength and modulus properties in tensile, compression, shear and flexural were evaluated using the specimens of three different densities. The dynamic modulus of elasticity of bamboo scrimber beams were evaluated using ultra-sonic pulse method. According to the present results it can be concluded that the density have significant influence on the mechanical properties of bamboo scrimber. The long term water absorption was also conducted to analysis the weight gained by the bamboo scrimber having different densities and the results revealed that density of specimen's influences the water absorption.