Evaluation of Physical Properties of Composite Material Produced from Short Bamboo Fibre with Carbonized Bone Particles in an Epoxy Matrix

Abstract

This study investigates the physical properties of a new composite
material produced from short bamboo fibre and carbonized bone
with epoxy as a binder for potential use as a lightweight engineering
material. The water absorption and the thickness swelling properties
of the composite were carried out. The optimum results from the
composites produced had a composition of bamboo – carbonized
bone – epoxy composition of 40%, 10% and 50% respectively. The
optimum values of thickness swelling and water absorption were
obtained as 0.067% and 3.52% respectively. The analyses of
variance results showed that all the model terms were significant
indicating that changes in the levels of bamboo, epoxy and bone
powder will have a significant influence on the thickness swelling
and water absorption of the composite material.