PERFORMANCE OF AN EPOXY-FILLER-MODIFIED BAMBOO-REINFORCED CONCRETE SLAB

Abstract

The necessity for a transition in the building industry towards sustainability has made bamboo-based construction more prevalent in recent decades. This paper demonstrates the development and performance evaluation of a newly developed cementitious composite slab panel containing nano-basalt powder (nBP) modified epoxy-coated bamboo as the reinforcement. The experimental research conducted on six slab panels ((600 × 450 × 50) mm), each having a different reinforcement type, demonstrated that the one with the nBP-modified epoxy-coated bamboo reinforcement showed significantly improved flexural performance by exhibiting better bonding characteristics. When compared to the uncoated bamboo-reinforced slab, the bond strength of the nBP-modified epoxy-coated bamboo-reinforced slab rose by about 32 %, to around 5.65 MPa. A flexural strength of about 73 MPa and a bond strength of about 6.26 MPa were attained due to the use of the nano-basalt powder modified epoxy-coated bamboo reinforcements with glass wrapping (nBGS). Comparing the nBGS slab to a slab of conventional cement concrete revealed an increase in the load-carrying capability of nearly 89 %.