Strength Performance and Dimensional Stability of Peeled Bamboo - Fiberglass Composite (PBFC) from Buluh Betong

Abstract

Bamboo is considered as environmentally and eco-friendly material compared to hardwood and nowadays bamboo veneer is getting very popular in the market. Bamboo veneer is suitable for many modern designs. The alternate layers of veneer bamboo (3 and 5 layers) were combined with fiberglass by using Epoxy resin (2% hardener) as bonding agent to produce PBFC at different pressure. Panels produced were assessed for the mechanical and physical properties such as MOE and MOR, thickness swelling (TS), and water absorption (WA) in accordance with the European Standard. Results revealed that strength performance of board improved with increasing pressure. Thickness swelling and water absorption values were much lower for the 5 layer composite Thus such findings revealed that bamboo veneer from Buluh betong possess great potential for the manufacture of bio-composite products.