Effects of physical parameters on the temperature and vapor-pressure behavior of bamboo scrimber during hot-pressing

ABSTRACT

Bamboo scrimber was made by “hot in-cold out” hot-pressing with hot parameters of 5 MPa, 150°C and 40–180 min. The variation of temperature and vapor pressure were investigated during hot-pressing of bamboo slabs with various initial moisture content (IMC; 5, 10, 15, and 20%), slab target density (TD; 0.9, 1.0, 1.1, and 1.2 g/cm³), slab target thickness (TT; 15, 30, 45, and 60 mm) using thermocouple sensors and a self-made press-monitoring system. The results showed obvious stages in the temperature and vapor pressure behavior of bamboo slabs during hot-pressing. IMC showed a limited effect on temperature but an obvious increase in vapor pressure. TD and target TT exhibited good linear relationships with the time to reach 120°C in the core layer, suggesting this can be used as an indicator of hot-pressing time. However, both TD and TT correlate less well with the vapor pressure, which might reflect differences in the size or fluffing degree of bamboo bundles.

KEYWORDS:

• Moisture content
• bamboo slab density
• bamboo slab thickness
• temperature distribution
• vapor pressure distribution

Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32071852), the Science and Technology Innovation Foundation Program of Hunan Provincial Forestry (No. XLKY202217), the Science and Technology Innovation Program of Hunan Province (No. 2021RC4062), and the National Undergraduate Training Program for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (No. 202110538009).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China: [Grant Number 32071852]; National Undergraduate Training Program for Innovation and Entrepreneurship: [Grant Number 202110538009]; Science and Technology Innovation Foundation Program of Hunan Provincial Forestry: [Grant Number XLKY202217]; Science and Technology Program of Hunan Province: [Grant Number 2021RC4062].