LAUSR

Bamboo being a fibrous lignocellulosic material has been used in numerous applications including structural and nonstructural sectors. Currently, there has been lot of interest to use the bamboo in engineered composites such as laminated bamboo lumber (LBL) for various end uses. The processing parameters for producing bamboo composites have enormous effects on their properties and overall performance. The focus of the present work was to study the effect of two important hot pressing parameters, i.e., specific pressure (10–25 kg/cm2) and pressing duration (15–25 min) on various properties of the LBL prepared using thin strips of Dendrocalamus brandisii bonded together with phenol formaldehyde (PF) resin. Various physical and mechanical properties of LBL such as moisture, density, water absorption, thickness swelling, volumetric swelling, modulus of rupture (MOR), modulus of elasticity (MOE) and compressive strength parallel to grain and perpendicular to the glue line were evaluated. The results showed that pressure and pressing duration had significant effect on the physical and mechanical properties of LBL. For superior physical and mechanical performance, the pressure of 20 kg/cm2 along with the pressing duration of 25 min can be suggested for D. brandisii LBL bonded with PF adhesive.