Abstract
This study characterized natural composites as bamboo tips reinforced naturally derived vinyl ester molded with vacuum-assisted resin trandfer molding (VaRTM). The VaRTM process is a variation of vacuum-infusion RTM where one of the solid tool faces is replaced by a flexible polymeric film. The VARTM process is a very clean and economical manufacturing method and suitable for the production of the large-size structure. Only bamboo culms and mixture of culms and leaves were crushed into bamboo tips, finely and roughly, which result in the four types of reinforcements. Bending, vibration and heat transfer characteristics were measured and the possibility of the application to wall material was examined.
