Hot Press Moldability of Bamboo Powder without Additives

The hot press moldability of bamboo powder without additives was investigated in this study. Bamboo powder was hot pressed into self-bonded cylindrical moldings at temperatures of 160 to 200 oC and pressing times of 1 to 20 min at a punch surface pressure of 200 MPa. After pressing, the color, density and bending properties of the moldings were evaluated. The bending strength, bending elastic modulus and density were found to increase with an increase in temperature, and moldings having good mechanical properties were obtained at a temperature of 200 oC. With respect to the influence of hot pressing time on moldability, a maximum bending strength of 34 MPa was achieved for a time of 10 min at a temperature of 200 oC. In addition, we removed moldings from the mold after cooling to 100 oC or less in order to improve the surface texture and density of the moldings. The results showed a cooled molding had a good surface texture (resembling plastic) and a bending strength of 53 MPa.