Bamboo: An Alternative Raw Material for Wood and Wood-Based Composites

摘要

Bamboo is the most important non-wood species which is abundantly grows in most of the tropical and subtropical zone. It has developed as a specially valuable and superior alternate for wood composite manufactured, such as for pulp and paper, stripboards, matboards, veneer, plywood, particleboard and fiberboard. Moreover, several researches have used it as raw material for structural composites such as Oriented Strand Board (OSB), Glue Laminated Timber (GLT), Parallel Strip Lumber (PSL) and Oriented Strand Lumber (OSL). Nowadays, there are many kinds of bamboo composite are produced and traded in the world. However, there are several differences between bamboo and wood for example macroscopic and microscopic characteristics, chemical composition, physical and mechanical properties. For this reason, the methods, technology and equipment for wood processing cannot be directly applied in bamboo utilization. Further research is noticeably required on the information on bamboo properties, cost-effective technologies and managements. With modern techniques and adapted technologies, bamboo can be processed into a wide range of products which successfully compete with wood and other raw materials in the future.