Material characterisation of bamboo for glued-laminated products

Glued-laminated bamboo (GLB) is an engineered material affected by the quality and uniformity of its constituent feedstock bamboo materials as well as by the assembly of this feedstock in the manufacturing process. A review of issues affecting the fabrication of GLB, including material properties, orientation of strips in GLB products, variation in glueline quality and prevalence of nodes, is presented. The potential impacts on the variability of GLB products are described. A number of recommendations for the engineered bamboo manufacturing industry are proposed.