Mode II fracture mechanics of moso bamboo for application in novel engineering materials

Bamboo has been used as a structural material for thousands of years. Recently there has been increasing interest in its use as a modem construction material. In this study, as part of a larger project to characterize the mechanical properties of Moso bamboo for application in the production of structural bamboo products (SBP), end-notched flexure (ENF) tests and three-point bending tests were performed to obtain the mode II interlaminar toughness (GIIc) and longitudinal Young's modulus (EL). It was found that known values for GIIc, include the pith (innermost layer) and cortex (outermost layer) of the bamboo culm in their calculations. The resulting value is, to a statistically significant degree (t = 5.0 x 10⁶), higher than that with the pith and cortex removed, as they typically will be in processing SBP. A new value, GIIc, = 630 +/- 155 J/m² , was established for specimens lacking the pith and cortex. Although no correlation was found between GIIc, and specimen density, it is suspected that a relationship does exist, and recommendations for further investigation are given.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2015

Author dc:creator

• Ellison, Rachel (Rachel M.)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Lorna J. Gibson.

• Materials Science and Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/98653

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/98653