Characterization of radial bamboo slivers from different height positions and their effect on the mechanical properties of bamboo-wood composite container flooring

Bamboo-wood composite container flooring (BWCCF), as a low-cost, sustainable, and eco-friendly product, plays an increasing role in the container flooring industry. In this paper, the structural characteristics of radial bamboo slivers (RBS) from different locations of bamboo culms were studied. Furthermore, the mechanical performance and failure mechanisms of 17-layer BWCCF, made of radial bamboo sliver curtains from the top (top-CF), middle (middle-CF), and bottom (bottom-CF) sections of bamboo culms, were evaluated. It was found that the geometry of the top-RBS was more irregular than the middle and bottom-RBS resulting in more structural defects of the top-CF and higher standard deviation of its mechanical properties. Except for the MOE, the top-CF is 7.0% lower than the middle-CF, there is a small difference between the strengths of the top and middle-CF. Since lower fiber volume fraction and larger bamboo node numbers of bottom-RBS, the density, concentrated load, modulus of elasticity (MOE), modulus of rupture (MOR), and shear strength parallel to grain (fs parallel to) of the middle-CF are 6.3%, 3.3%, 7.3%, 14.7%, and 3.1%, respectively higher than those of bottom-CF. The failure modes of concentrated load for the top, middle, and bottom-CF were different mainly because the number of RBS included in corresponding RBSC was different.