Study of the drying process of bamboo for constructive applications

Abstract

Bamboo is a natural material widely used in construction due to its easy large-scale cultivation, rapid growth, high resistance and toughness. Before using bamboo as a constructive material, it must be properly dried to avoid its degradation by biological agents and improve their mechanical properties. Efficient and sustainable drying of bamboo remains a key challenge in obtaining this material in production zones, which in many cases are located in areas with low energy resources. Ecuador is one of the countries with the highest production of bamboo in the world and at the same time, with a low level of energy resources in which drying is one of the critical stages. The use of bamboo as a building material in this country would meet the requirements of a sustainable material (local material with low environmental footprint). The purpose of this project is to study the drying process of bamboo to achieve the best mechanical properties for its use as a building material. For this purpose, the drying kinetics of bamboo will be studied according to parameters such as temperature, time and vacuum level. In addition, different test will be carried out to evaluate the mechanical properties such as elastic modulus, thus determining the optimal drying conditions