Research on the Change in Chemical Composition and Fungal Resistance of Moso Bamboo with Heat Treatment

Abstract

Bamboo, as a potential alternative to biomass materials, has gained more attention from the bamboo manufacturing industry in China. However, the drawbacks, such as the dimensional instability, and low antifungal and hydrophilic properties of bamboo, inhibit its application and shorten its service life. The objective of this work was to analyze the change in chemical components and fungal resistance of moso bamboo with heat treatment. For this objective, moso bamboo specimens were thermally modified in an oven at different temperatures for a fixed duration. The results showed that the parenchymal cells distorted and deformed in comparison to the control after thermal modification. After thermal modification in an oven, the crystallinity index increased from 39% to 53%. Owing to the thermal modification, the hemicellulose and cellulose relative content decreased, as confirmed by FTIR and XPS analysis. Thus, the dimensional stability and antifungal properties of the thermally modified bamboo specimens improved.