Physical-mechanical properties of bamboo scrimbers with response to surface layer modification: thermal treatment and resin dosage

Treatment of bamboo defibered sheets is an effective method to increase the performance of bamboo scrimber. To enhance the performance of bamboo scrimber, this study investigated the effects of resin dosage and thermal treatment of surface layer defibered sheets on water resistance, wear resistance, and mechanical properties of bamboo scrimber. As the resin dosage and thermal treatment temperature increased in the surface layer defibered sheets, the water expansion rates in both the width and thickness of bamboo scrimber decreased, indicating the improvement in water resistance. The increase in resin dosage on surface layer defibered sheets improved wear resistance of the bamboo scrimber as a whole. However, higher thermal treatment temperatures decreased the wear resistance. The horizontal shear strength, MOR, and MOE initially increased and then decreased as the resin dosage increased, with the maximum mechanical strength appearing at the resin dosage of 16%. In contrast, the thermal treatment improved the horizontal shear strength, MOR, and MOE of bamboo scrimber, with the highest mechanical strength at 180 °C. Furthermore, as the treatment temperature increased, the surface color of the bamboo defibered sheets changed from light yellow to dark brown. The results of this study offered a theoretical foundation for the production of high-performance bamboo scrimber with acceptable cost by only treating the surface layer bamboo defibered sheets.