Study of bond between concrete and the specie of bamboo Bambusa vulgaris sealed with latex extracted from rubber trees

Abstract

Bamboo is a tropical, perennial and renewable plant. It is also good to kidnap the carbon from the air. It is not necessary to replant the culms and it grows quickly. It presents good mechanical resistance characteristics and it has been used in the civil construction since a long time ago. More recently, the bamboo has been studying as an element that can be used as a kind of reinforcement into the concrete. As disadvantages, the bamboo is an organic and hygroscopic material. During the concrete casting process, the bamboo absorbs water and this increases its volume. This increase can cause cracks in the fresh concrete. After the period of cure, when the concrete is hardened, the bamboo loses part of the water that was absorbed and suffers a reduction from its volume, what also reduces the efficiency of the bond between the materials. This work intends to evaluate the bond stress between the concrete and the Bambusa vulgaris bamboo, which is available in the city of Ilha Solteira, through pull out tests. This kind of test intends to represent the behavior of the bamboo as the tension element in the reinforced concrete structure. The specimens will be sealed with latex, which is a natural rubber obtained from rubber trees, and thus an4 ecologically sustainable product. To improve the bond condition between the concrete and bamboo, the surface of the specimen will be impregnated with sand after application of the latex while it is still not dry. Steel pins will be put in some specimens. In the future, it is intended that the parameters obtained in this research can be used in the study of lattice joist precast slabs, so that the bamboo could be used as a complement to the lattice reinforcement, to increase strength and stiffness of the slab.