Anisotropic abrasive wear behaviour of bamboo (Dentrocalamus strictus)

In this paper, an experimental study has been conducted to determine the abrasive wear behaviour of bamboo, which is a cellulosic fibre reinforced composite in different directions namely LL, LT and TT by using a Suga Abrasion Wear Tester. Three different types of abrasive wear behaviours have been observed in bamboo in three orientations and follow the following trends. W-TT < W-LT < W-LL Unidirectional vascular fibre bundles present in bamboo provide unique directional abrasive wear properties. Wear anisotropy magnitude of bamboo is a function of load and abrasive grit size. Worn surfaces and debris after wear test were observed by using a SEM. It has been found that the debris generated were of fibrous type in longitudinal direction, which came out after ploughing and microcutting of vascular fibres, while in normal fibre direction, debris were of particulate type. This unique difference in the nature of worn debris explains the difference in abrasive wear behaviour in three different directions of bamboo. (c) 2006 Elsevier BX All rights reserved.