A simple, effective and inhibitor‐free thermal treatment for enhancing mold‐proof property of bamboo scrimber

The bamboo scrimber has been widely used in building materials and interior decoration. However, the bamboo scrimber is very vulnerable to mold due to the rich nutrients in bamboo parenchyma cells. In this study, a thermal treatment with saturated vapor was employed to improve the mold-proof property of bamboo scrimber. Four kinds of mold (Botryodiplodia theobromae, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium citrinum, Trichoderma viride) were respectively used to infect the original bamboo scrimber (OBS) and thermally treated bamboo scrimber (TBS). The TBS presents better mold-proof property than the OBS, especially to T. viride. After 28-day infection, the TBSs infected area ratio reached 10.3 % with a remarkable decline compared with the OBS (45 %). In addition, no obvious discoloration was observed on the TBS after infection by B. theobromae. The obtained results show that the degradation of hemicellulose in bamboo bundles during thermal treatment mainly contributes to the enhancement of mold-proof property. The TBSs enhanced hydrophobicity also takes responsibility for slowing down the growth of mycelium. This study exhibits a simple, green and cost-effective method to effectively improve the mold-proof property for the bamboo scrimber without any extra mold inhibitors.