Improvement by the drop of water absorption in treated Bambusa vulgaris fibers used in composite materials for building components.

Abstract This study aims to investigate the improvement of the hydrophilic behavior of bamboo fibers extracted by the "Improved Hydrophilic Extraction Method" (IHEM) (with 3% soda) and treated by acetylation. A sample of Bambusa vulgaris fibers obtained. Three categories of fibers’s structure were exploded in composite sample, molded in same condition. Each categories of fibers’s structure has composite with treated fibers and other with untreated fibers, and was subjected to a cycle of wetting/drying/wetting test for five days duration under. It resulted that the surface area of the fibers was smoothed by 3.57% and the density was reduced by 70.08%. The elastic properties of the accessible fiber, such as Young's modulus read 14777.75 MPa while the breaking stress yieds 39.21 MPa. Water absorption decreased by 20% to 37% after 48 hours of quenching, despite the temperature variation. The comparison of water saturation mass (DM), moisture mass after drying (MT) and mass variation of the composite substituted in water after soaking (ΔM), showed that the increase in the rate of treated fibers reduces the hydrophilic character of the composite which becomes completely hydrophobic to 15%, and that the damage caused to the composite by the hydrophilic effect also becomes less important.