Plant material features responsible for bamboo's excellent mechanical performance: a comparison of tensile properties of bamboo and spruce at the tissue,fibre and cell wall levels |
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| Authors: | Xiaoqing Wang Tobias Keplinger Notburga Gierlinger Ingo Burgert |
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| Institution: | 1Institute for Building Materials, ETH-Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland;2Applied Wood Materials Laboratory, EMPA-Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, CH-8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland;3Research Institute of Wood Industry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China |
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| Abstract: | MethodsThe mechanical properties of single fibres and tissue slices of stems of mature moso bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) and spruce (Picea abies) latewood were investigated in microtensile tests. Cell parameters, cellulose microfibril angles and chemical composition were determined using light and electron microscopy, wide-angle X-ray scattering and confocal Raman microscopy.ConclusionsThe superior tensile properties of bamboo fibres and fibre bundles are mainly a result of amplified cell wall formation, leading to a densely packed tissue, rather than being based on specific cell wall properties. The material optimization towards extremely compact fibres with a multi-lamellar cell wall in bamboo might be a result of a plant growth strategy that compensates for the lack of secondary thickening growth at the tissue level, which is not only favourable for the biomechanics of the plant but is also increasingly utilized in terms of engineering products made from bamboo culms. |
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| Keywords: | Bamboo Phyllostachys pubescens spruce Picea abies stem biomechanics plant cell wall mechanical adaptation microfibril angle Raman imaging tensile stiffness |
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