CHAPTER III

BAMBOO RAW MATERIAL

3.1. Sources
Bamboos are perennial grasses with woody stems or culms, which occur mostly

in natural vegetation of tropical, subtropical and temperate regions and are abundant in

tropical Asia12. In these areas bamboos have been used as a main material for house

construction, scaffolding, ladders, fencing, containers, furniture and many kinds of

handicraft articles, and also for pulp and papermaking.

Photo 3.1. Moso bamboo (Phylostachys pubescens Mazel) forest in Japan.

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 Bamboos constitute the Bambusoideae, a subfamily of the grass family, the

Graminae. About 750 bamboo species in about 45 genera are known around the world1.

Many of them are indigenous to the monsoon areas of tropical Asia, some of them occur

only in cultivation and almost 80 species are known in Japan13.

The genus Phyllostachys is one of the largest genera of bamboo and about 30

species are known in East Asia. In Japan, three species (P. bambusoides Siebold et

Zuccarini, P. pubescens Mazel ex Houzeau de Lahaie and P. nigra (Loddiges) Munro var.

henonis), growing wildly. Phyllostachys species have a monopodial rhizomes system,

which run horizontally under the ground and forms groves of evenly spaced culms14.

Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens Mazel), one of the largest and typical

bamboos of Japan as shown in Photo 3.1, grows to its full size within about two months,

but takes about three years for complete maturation. The largest of bamboo culms

attaining to 25 m in height, 24 cm in diameter. Nodes at the lower portions of culms

marked by one prominent ridge, but branch-bearing nodes of mid-culms marked by two

prominent ridges, i.e., the supranodal ridge and sheath scar as the other species of this

genus. This plant is native from China. It is said that it was introduced into Kagoshima

Prefecture Kyushu in 1746 by the Shimazu clan. It is commonly cultivated throughout

Japan and the northern limit of cultivation of this plant in Japan is Hakodate, Hokkaido.

The fundamental architecture of the cell wall is completed at an early stage but

secondary thickening of cell walls and their lignifications proceed more gradually.

Chrystallinity changes of cellulose in the cell walls of internodes from juvenile to mature

stages shows that cellulose formed in the early stage is more or less amorphous and

becomes oriented subsequently15.

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 Moso bamboos not only have such ecologically unique characteristics, but also

are also economically important. Culms are used for building construction and

handicrafts, and young shoots are edible. From the viewpoint of resource management of

the biomass, asexual culms reproduction accompanied by rapid growth of the sprouts is a

very advantageous trait. We can continuously harvest culms by thinning from a stand

without the need for replanting. This results in sustainable yield.

3.2. Anatomy
The bamboo culms are characterized by nodes occurring periodically along its

length. At the node is a solid cross wall, called the diaphragm, and the internodes are

usually hollow (Photo 3.2). The outermost part of the culm is composed of single layer

of epidermis and the inside is covered by a layer of sclerenchyma cells. The body of the

culms wall consists of vascular bundles embedded in ground tissue made up of

parenchyma cells (Photo 3.3 and Photo 3.4.). Sclerenchyma cells are long, dead, thick-

walled cells and serve as strengthening material. They surround the vascular bundles,

separated by parenchyma. Just inside of the outer skin of the stem a couple of layers of

heavy sclerenchyma cells are found. The length of the fibres depends on the species, and

varies in the culm. The parenchyma tissue forms a ground tissue in which the vessels and

fibres are embedded. The parenchyma cells are mostly thin-walled and connected to each

other by numerous pits. The shape of the cells is either long or cube-like. The

parenchyma tissue is the weakest of all tissues in bamboo.

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 Photo 3.2. The moso bamboo shoot and culms

The vascular system in bamboo is divided into two part; first was the phloem, that

part of the vascular bundle towards the epidermis, made up of sieve tubes, for conduction

of food materials principally downwards; large and thin-walled cells; second was xylem,

inside of the phloem, composed of vessels, principally for the transport of water and

minerals upwards; thicker walled cells. The pattern vascular system in the cross section

of a culm, the longitudinal variation within the whole culm, which decreasing from base

to top is described in detail by Grosser and Liese16. Bamboo culm has no cambium and

no radial cell elements, such as rays, exist in the internodes. Bamboo is therefore quite

different from wood. The culms consist of about 50% parenchyma, 40% fibers and 10%

conducting cells (vessels and tubes) on average17.

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 Photo 3.3. Cross section of moso bamboo culms

In bamboo, the parenchymatous ground tissue is lined on the outer and the inner

side by special terminal layers. The layers are heavily cutinized, such as overlaid with a

waxy covering, to prevent loss of water from the culms. Liese17 also reported that the

cutinized layer is composed of cellulose and pectin and has a tangential lamellation. A

wax layer is formed on top and the outside has a heavy deposit of silica, which is

incorporated in peripheral parts of the culms tissue. These materials make the bamboo

impervious to moisture and increases strength.

The anatomical bamboo structure becomes highly modified and complex in the

nodes. Here the vascular bundles and the phloem become extensively branched and

rearranged. Investigations on functional structure of the nodes would constitute a further

research topic.

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 px mp

mx
bs
vascular bundle

parenchyma

Photo 3.4. Three-dimensional microscopic appearance of moso bamboo

px: protoxylem, mx: Metaxylem, mp:Metaploem, bs:bundle
sheath (courtesy of Sasaki18).

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 3.3. Chemical properties
Bamboo consists of about 50-70% holocellulose, 30% pentosan and 20-25%

lignin, with some variation according to species and age of the culm. More than 90% of

the bamboo hemicellulose consists of xylan, which has a unique structure within the

family of Graminae and is an intermediate between hardwood and softwood xylans19.

The proximate chemical compositions of bamboo culms are similar to those of

hardwoods, except that alkaline extract, ash and silica content are higher than in

hardwoods. Not enough is known about the location of the silica, which amount to 0.5 to

4% of the culm and affects its pulping quality. Most silica appears to be deposited in the

epidermis, whereas the internodes and nodes contain none or little. As seen in Table 3.1,

some researcher have done test on chemical composition on several bamboo as well.

According to Higuchi19, bamboo lignin is a typical grass lignin composed of

mixed dehydrogenation polymer of coniferyl, synapyl and p-coumaryl alcohols, which

similar to those found in spruce lignin.

Table 3.1. Chemical composition of several bamboo culms

Species Phyllostachys Phyllostachys Bambusa Dendrocalamus
makinoia edulisa blumeanab strictusc

Ash 1.51 1.12 4.80 2.10

Silica na na 3.40 na
Extractives:
Ether 0.52 0.46 na 0.56
Hot water 4.25 8.60 4.30 5.93
1% NaOH 29.14 30.06 39.50 15.00
Alcohol benzene 2.78 4.01 3.10 0.25
Pentosan 19.59 24.60 19.00 19.56
Lignin 25.89 26.52 20.40 32.20
Holocellulose 76.85 77.74 67.40 68.80

a
Chao et al.20, bSingh and Guha21 and cTamolang22; na=not available.

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3.4. Physical and mechanical properties
3.4.1. Objective

The main objective of this study was to obtain basic data on the physical and

mechanical properties of moso bamboo with several-selected variable, such as moisture

content, node presence and loading orientation with respect to the outer culms surface.

This information can be used in the manufacture of bamboo structural composite

products and in the study of other possible applications.

3.4.2. Material and Methods

Three-years old moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens Mazel) from Kagoshima

Prefecture in Japan was chosen as raw material. From 20 culms (100 cm long), 30 cm

long pieces, one of them with the node at midsection and another without node, were cut

from each section for testing the bamboo’s mechanical properties. Every 30 cm long

piece was then split into quarter, two for air-drying at 200C and 65% relative humidity

(RH) and the other remaining in green condition (Photo 3.5). From each of the above

quarter, two bending samples (2 cm wide and 25 cm long with the thickness of the

bamboo wall), two tension samples (1 cm wide, 20 cm long and 0.1 cm center neck with

the bamboo wall thickness), and two compression samples (1 cm wide and 3 cm long

with the thickness of bamboo wall) were obtained (Photo 3.6). Minimum planning was

done on the inner and outer perimeters/layers to make the samples rectangular.

The specimens were tested in compression, tension and bending following the JIS

Z-211323 standard procedures, while shear strength was adopted from another researcher.

The bending test was done with a simple support and concentrated center load and with a

span of 15 cm and loading speed of 10 mm/min as shown in Fig. 3.1.

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Photo 3.5. Bamboo raw material after split into quarter.

Photo 3.6. Specimens for bending, compression and tension testing. From left:
specimens with node and without node, respectively.

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 After the bending test of the green samples, 2 cm wide by 5 cm long specimen

was cut from each sample for measure of the percent shrinkages in tangential, radial and

longitudinal directions from green to air-dry condition (65% RH at 200C). The moisture

content (MC) and density of these specimens were also determined.

P P
Inner face Outer face

h
Outer face Inner face
b
(Down) (Up)

2 cm
15 cm

Fig. 3.1. Bending test specimens regarding to the surface orientation.

(Up = loaded on outer face; Down = loaded on inner face)

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3.4.3. Physical properties

Moisture content and density of bamboo culms

The properties of the bamboo culms are determined by its anatomical structure

since the distribution of cell types within the culm is influenced by the shape, size,

arrangement and number of vascular bundles. These factors contribute to the bamboo’s

density, moisture content, shrinkage characteristics and strength properties.

Anatomically, density of bamboo regarded as a function of the ratio of cell wall volume

to cell void volume; as such, it is affected by cell wall thickness and structure, cell width,

relative proportions of different types of cells and the kind and amount of extractives

present. Moreover, density is a measure of the strength properties of a bamboo material.

As summarize in Table 3.2, the average MC was 35.79% in the green condition

and 12.48% in the air-dry condition, whereas the average of basic density or specific

gravity was 0.74. The density of bamboo is greatest at the surface of the culm and

decreases from there inward. Density also depends on vertical position in the culm,

increasing from bottom to top. The variations in density are closely correlated with the

relative proportions of vascular bundles and ground tissues; especially as the proportion

of thick-walled sclerenchyma cells increases, the density increases also24. For two

botanical species, P. pubescens (moso chiku) and P. reticulata (madake), Ota25 has

determined the percentages of anatomical elements (bundle sheath and fundamental

tissue) and their influence on the density.

Shrinkages

Bamboo, like wood, is anisotropic and has its principal directions the longitudinal,

radial and tangential as referred to the cylindrical shape of the culms. The shrinkages of

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specimens were measured from green to air-dry conditions. Unlike wood, bamboo

shrinks right from the beginning of drying. The average shrinkages in longitudinal,

tangential and radial directions were 0.13, 3.72, and 6.15%, respectively (Table 3.2). The

greatest shrinkages occurred in the radial direction, which was almost 1.6 times as great

as shrinkage in the tangential direction. The shrinkage in the longitudinal direction was

negligible. These result was agreed with Ota25, for P. pubescens and P. reticulata the

radial, tangential and longitudinal shrinkage values from green to oven-dry were 6.65,

4.45 and 0.33%, respectively. Shrinkage is least in longitudinal direction, but in contrast

to wood is higher in the radial than in the tangential direction.

Table 3.2. Some physical properties of moso bamboo culms.

Physical properties min max average SD

Thickness of the culms 9 15 10.7 2.25

Moisture content, %
Green 33.3 51.43 35.8 6.73
Air-dry 11.3 13.15 12.5 1.50

Specific gravity 0.69 0.82 0.74 0.09

Shrinkages, %
Longitudinal 0.09 0.21 0.13 0.02
Tangential 3.12 5.22 3.72 0.59
Radial 4.85 8.41 6.15 0.86

Number of samples, 20; min, minimum value; max, maximum value; SD, standard deviation from
the sample mean; shrinkages calculated from green to air-dry condition.

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