Bamboo

Bamboo

Bamboo are evergreen tree-like grasses with woody but hollow stems. Bamboo belongs to true grass family Poaceae . Bamboos are hard materials used for construction, furniture and decoration. Bamboo grows in clumps and spreads by rhizomes.

Commercial Name: Bamboo
Family: Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae;
Species:There are more than 70 genera (about 1200 species) of bamboo in the world, species include: Bambusa spp., Dinochloa spp., Drepanostachyum spp., Eremitis spp., Ampelocalamus spp., Arundinaria spp., Bambusa spp., Bashania spp., Borinda ssp., Brachystachyum spp., Cephalostachyum spp., Chimonobambusa spp., Chusquea spp., Dendrocalamus spp., Fargesia spp.
Origin: Bamboos are native to Asian-Pacific region (China, India, Burma, Vietnam…), Latin America (Amazon basin, Brazil…), sub-Saharan Africa. China has about 500 bamboo species.

Bamboo is a fast-growing plants, it can grow as fast as 4 feet in a day.

Physical Properties:
Air-Dry Density (kg/m³): the density of bamboo varies from 500 to 800 kg/m3 depending on the species, age, anatomical structure .
Grain: straight grain
Color Air-dried bamboo: bamboo fiber is light yellow, greyish yellow; the outside color of air-dried bamboo stem is light yellow,  green black or deep black depended on species
Shrinkage Diameter: 9-16%
Shrinkage Tangential: 10-16%

Mechanical & Working Properties :
Seasoning: easy, however cracking, splitting may occur because of high shrinkage during drying
Nailing : very poor
Natural Durability: non-durable, bamboos have poor natural durability(ground-contact), but untreated bamboo in favourable conditions can last up to 15 years or longer , treated bamboo can last longer time .
Hardness: the hardness of bamboo is higher than most of common hardwood lumbers like Ash, Red Oak, White Oak, Beech, Ash.

Bamboo is strong but lightweight. It has much higher strength-to-weight ratio. Bamboo is easy to work with and has excellent strength, hardness, stiffness .

The obvious natural defect of bamboo is that the stem is hollow. In the past, this defect restricted the wide usage of bamboo . Through modern technology and equipment, now bamboo can be made into plywood, laminated bamboo lumber (LVL), floor, furniture, bamboo panel, fiberboard (bamboo MDF, bamboo particle board), textile and so on .

Applications:
Bamboo Furniture, Woven Furniture,
Bamboo Flooring, Bamboo Plywood, Paneling,
Building, Construction, Fencing,
Bamboo fiber can be used for textile, clothes, towel .