Production of composite boards from Bambusa blumeana Schult.f. and Dendrocalamus asper (Schult.) Backer

The study aims to produce composite boards from two bamboo species i.e., Bambusa blumeana and Dendrocalamus asper. The composites were termed as “strip-board” and “shavings-board” to indicate that such was processed from shavings and strips, respectively. The strip-board was produced from 1.2 meter poles. The poles were turned into slats and were deskinned, denoded, and further processed into thin long strips. The shavings-board were made from the internodes converted into slats, deskinned, and processed into thin materials. During defibering, the vascular bundles were cooked in three varying NaOH-water concentrations (i.e., 1%, 3%, and 5%) for 3 hours. The cooked bundles were thoroughly washed and dried to 14% MC, applied with polyvinyl acetate, and pressed at 1000 psi. The produced boards were cured, dried, and samples were subsequently tested for tensile, compression, and bending strength following the ASTM D-143-22 standards. The data were analyzed using the 2×2×3 (i.e., species, board type, NaOH concentration) factorial experiment in CRD. Results showed that the pressing pressure used was insufficient to produce void-free boards. No interaction was noted between the three factors, but the main effect indicated that B. blumeana has significantly higher tensile and compression strength compared to D. asper. The strip-boards also obtained the same compared to shavings-boards. Despite the strength properties exhibited by B. blumeana, boards from D. asper were economical because of the lower price per pole and production cost. We conclude that the high pressing pressure was the most crucial factor in producing void-free, tightly compacted dense boards