ABRASIVE WEAR BEHAVIOR OF BAMBOO

Abrasive wear of bamboo (Phyllostachys pubescens) against a free abras ive consisting of quartz sand (96.5%-wt) and bentonite (3.5%wt) was st udied on a rotary-disk type abrasive wear tester (a free abrasive wear tester) and the micromorphology of the abraded surfaces were examined by scanning electron microscopy. It was observed that the bamboo fibr e (vascular bundle) orientation with respect to the abrading surface h ad an important influence on the abrasive wear performance. The normal ly oriented specimens gave much higher abrasion resistance than the pa rallel-oriented ones, the surface layer than the inner layer, and the vascular bundle than the matrix tissue.