Bamboo As A Sustainable Engineering Material

Things We Use In Construction

STEEL - Steel is a metal alloy of iron and carbon. Steel is so strong compared to its weight and size; structural engineers use it for the structural framework of tall modern buildings.

CONCRETE - Concrete is composite material made of fine and coarse aggregate (gravel, crushed stone, recycled concrete, etc.) bond together by a liquid binder such as cement that hardens or curve over time. 

WOOD - Wood has been used for thousands of years and has properties that make it an ideal building material - even in the days of engineered and synthetic materials. 

STONE -The longest lasting building material available is the stone that has been here for thousands of years: stone. In fact, the most ancient of buildings still in existence in the world are made of stone.

Replacing Steel with Bamboo

• Bamboo has been used in the construction field for a long time, even before its tensile strength was known. Indians used to build houses, furniture, fences, etc. with bamboo. Bamboo is stronger than steel, as it has a tightly packed molecular structure than steel.
• Let's take a step looking forward to replacing steel with bamboo due to its tensile properties. Use of steel in concrete is costly, and the production of steel has a lot of drawbacks like high costs, atmospheric pollution, and environmental degradation. The bamboo, on the other hand, can be produced at very low costs and has various environmental benefits.
• However, we cannot use bamboo to replace steel directly as the tensile strength alone is not enough, even though bamboo is found to be stronger and stiffer than other construction materials but looking forward it is proven that it has a lot of environmental benefits and is less cost effective! 

Environmental Benefits of Bamboo in Construction

This is the Carbon footprint of CO2. 

Carbon footprint represents total amount of greenhouse gases (including carbon dioxide and methane) that are generated by our actions. As seen the carbon footprint of bamboo is in negative it means that bamboo removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere rather than adding it up to 450 kg in its 1 ton.

Bamboo Conversion into Construction Material

• Yes, Bamboo can be used but when we compare it with steel or other building material it needs to be processed before been used.
• Steps of Processing of Bamboo to convert it in ready to use construction material are: 

1. Cutting the bamboo length ways (along the clumps).
2. Letting the strands of Bamboo to dry so that there is no moisture left at a minimal temperature or in sunlight.
3. Making them go in compressing machines which will help it to become Flat. 
4. Now Lamination can be done on the Strands to make a thick stronger structure (Lamination is a processing approach to producing a composite system with improved strength, stability and appearance by using two or more materials stacked in multiple layers). 
5. Lamination can be then permanently assembled by heat, pressure, welding or adhesives.

• But unknowingly this process is not widely used in India. It is only used rarely in some remote locations. Thus only a few in the popular city know about it