Assessment of physical and mechanical properties of juvenile and matured Bambusa vulgaris glue-laminated bamboo for structural applications in Ghana

This study assessed the properties of juvenile and matured glue-laminated bamboo for structural applications. Glue-laminated bamboo was produced from 2-year-old and 4-year-old culms of Bambusa vulgaris with a fast-curing polyurethane adhesive (Rapid Lion). The composites produced were assessed for their physical (moisture content, basic density, radial, longitudinal, tangential and volumetric shrinkage) and mechanical (modulus of rupture, modulus of elasticity and compressive strength parallel to grain) properties. The results show that the juvenile glue-laminated bamboo significantly shrinks about twice that of the matured glue-laminated bamboo with values of 6.32% for radial, 6.51% for tangential and 0.22% for longitudinal. It was further observed that the basic density of the matured glue-laminated bamboo was 810.56 kg/m³ which is 14.56% higher than that of the juvenile glue-laminated bamboo. The juvenile glue-laminated bamboo had MOE of 5876 MPa; MOR of 43.42 MPa and compressive strength of 37.58 MPa whilst that of the matured glue-laminated bamboo recorded MOE of 13379 MPa; MOR of 82.48 MPa and compressive strength of 62.78 MPa. The matured bamboo laminates had better physical and mechanical properties than that of the juvenile bamboo laminates. It is recommended that matured Bambusa vulgaris can be used as an engineered composite material for structural applications.