Hydrothermal aging evaluation method of recombinant bamboo based on X-ray computed tomography technology

To predict their lifespan of reconstituted bamboo products in practical use, X-ray computed tomography technology (X-CT) was employed and the standard of BS EN 1087-1:1995 was used as the hydrothermal aging condition of recombinant bamboo. The loss of structural strength was evaluated by the mathematical model of the CT value and the aging analysis indicators after hydrothermal aging of reconstituted bamboo. The results show that:the density, the internal bond strength and the CT value of recombinant bamboo are decreased after aging than before aging, and the differences are significant before and after aging. With the increasing of the aging time, the losses of the density, the internal bond strength and the CT value are increased and their changing trends are basically the same, which rapidly change in 1-2 h and gently change in 2.5-4.5 h and reach the peak at 4.5 h; the CT value difference and the density difference are fitted into linear model whose model correlation coefficient R² and validation model R² are 0.9270 and 0.9438, respectively, and the CT value difference and the internal bond strength difference are fitted into Allometric model whose model correlation coefficient R² and validation model R² are 0.9488 and 0.9439, respectively; the botanical characteristics of bamboo and the press technology of reconstituted bamboo cause the discretizing of the experimental data and the change of the discretizing before and after aging. The internal uniformity of reconstituted bamboo can be improved and the change of the discretizing before and after aging can be reduced by improving the press technology to enhance the prediction accuracy of the models.