Effect of bamboo hand sheet types on geometry and mechanical properties of the bamboo hand sheet/Green Epoxy composites fabricated by vacuum-injection technique

In order to fabricate bamboo hand sheet/Green Epoxy composites (BHGECs), the individual bamboo fibers are extracted by using chemical solutions. The bamboo fibers are then used to make bamboo hand sheet before being combined with Green Epoxy. The compatibility of fiber and matrix is directly affected by the extracted bamboo fiber shape. The objective of this research is to investigate the suitable chemical solution for extracting and forming bamboo fiber as bamboo hand sheet for reinforcing BHGECs. The bamboo strips were cooked with the different chemical solutions (acid 85%, NaOH 1%, NaOH 6%, and NaOH 30%) in the reactor at 120° C for 2 h. After washing and drying, the cooked bamboo fibers were then formed as the bamboo hand sheet by L’HOMARGY machine. These bamboo hand sheets were then combined with the Infu Green810 (Green Epoxy) by vacuum-injection technique which was developed in this research. The resulting composite materials were tested to derive tensile and bending strength according to ASTM D638 and ASTM D790 respectively. The best mechanical properties are obtained for 6% NaOH-BHGECs since the 6% NaOH bamboo hand sheets correspond to the most homogeneous, the straightest, and the longest bamboo fiber compared to other types of bamboo hand sheets.