FUNDAMENTAL AND CHARACTERISTIC STUDY OF CULTIVATED MALAYSIAN BAMBOO - SELECTIVE GENUS GIGANTOCHLOA

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Date
2010
Authors
MUSTAFA, MOHD TAMIZI
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Abstract
A comprehensive study was carried out on the fundamental and characteristic features of selected Malaysian bamboo genus Gigantochloa cultivated in Malaysia. G. brang (Buluh bran g), G. levis (Buluh beting), G. scotechinii (Buluh semantan) and G. wrayi (Buluh beti or raga) were selected from Bambusetum at Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) Kepong as research materials. Bamboo culm of 3-years old from each species were harvested and processed in n011- wood Laboratory at FRIM. Research was initiated to determine the variation of fiber morphology, anatomical structure, chemical composition, thermal behaviour and physical and mechanical properties of selected bamboo in relation to location and position in bamboo culms. Morphological images of the fibers showed that the fiber of each species has a different dimension. The size of vascular bundle is smaller exteriorly and becomes bigger interior position. The results of this study showed that the chemical composition do not differ much from the previous study of other bamboo species. There are four stages of degradation identified during the pyrolysis and decomposition of these fibers. The first stage of evaporation of moisture is followed by hemicellulose decomposition which in tum is followed by the decomposition of cellulose and lignin. FT -IR spectroscopy showed the presence of following functional groups: hydroxyl (OH), carbonyl (C=O), ester (C-O-C) and many others. The moisture content was found to be inversely proportional to the specific gravity of the bamboo. Higher the water content; higher was the shrinkage rates while the specific gravity was lower. The "Radiation Densitometry" equipment proved that for every millimeter of movement for inner part to the outer part, there was an increase of the density. The surface roughness was evaluated by using "Profile meter Roughness" and indicated that the higher value was at inner suface as compared to the outer position surface. The absorption on surface was evaluated based on contact angle by using "CAM 100 Optical Contact Angle" equipment. The absorption was higher at inner position due to the lower value of the contact angle compared to the outer position. Tensile strength, flexural MOE, MOR was found to be proportional to the specific gravity of bamboo but for the shear strength it was higher at the middle position. Almost, all the bamboo species in this study have similar characteristics.
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FUNDAMENTAL , CHARACTERISTIC
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