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The stems of mature Mao bamboo are used to make boards which look and feel similar to conventional timber, but are generally much harder, stronger and more rigid than most hard woods in common use.
Hardness
Click on link above to download comparative
hardness graph.
Bamboo averages 25% harder than Red Oak and 12% harder than North American Maple.
Hardness tests conducted on bamboo panels, to ASTM D1037 standards, shows an average hardness of 1820 (Janka ball test) which makes bamboo flooring harder than White Oak (1360) and Rock Maple (1450).
Rigidity
Bamboo boards have an average dimensional change coefficient of .00144, which implies that bamboo boards are 2.5 times more stable than Maple.
Strength
Compressive strength: Testing to ASTM 3501-86 A produced: compression parallel to grain: 7600 PSI; compression perpendicular to grain: 2624 PSI.
Tensile strength: Testing to ASTM 3500-90 A yielded results of 15,300 PSI parallel to grain.
Moisture Content
Bamboo boards ex factory, tested using ASTM D4442 (oven dry method) show an average moisture content of 7.8 percent. |
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