Improvement of mechano-chemical properties of bamboo by bio-chemical treatment

Improvements of mechano-chemical properties of bamboo by a bio-chemical formulation (BF-N/14) have been studied. Among the three bamboo species Bambusa balcooa shows higher stem density (0.9 g/cm(3)) with high cellulose (44.52%) and lignin (23.43%) content. The initial cellulose content (44.5%) was reduced to 40.2% after 12 month, kept under open environmental condition. BF-N/14 treatment prevents significantly the degradation of cellulose and pentosan and recorded only 2.51% and 2.30% degradation after 12 month. Also, it enhances the density by 15-18%. The tensile strength (173.10 N/mm(2)) and modulus of rupture (MOR) (370.31 N/mm(2)) have also been recorded higher after treatment. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) of BF-N/14 treated bamboo reveals the penetration and accumulation of ingredients inside the cells. X-ray diffraction (XRD) study shows higher crystallinity in treated bamboo than untreated one, which is also supported by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) study. The performance of BF-N/14 treatment has been found better to that of commercially available CCB (copperchrome-boron) in terms of density, tensile strength and MOR significantly. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.