In recent years there has been an increasing interest in using natural fibers as reinforcements for biodegradable plastics from the environment-friendly viewpoint. In this study the mechanical properties of bamboo fibers extracted by a steam-explosion method has been investigated by means of the tensile test. From the experimental results it was found that the tensile strength of bamboo fibers depended on the steam-explosion conditions and that the strength of the bamboo fibers extracted at relatively low temperatures and for a short period was high but the scattering of the strength also became large, thus optimum steam-explosion conditions were at 190°C for 1.8-3.6ks. Finally we found that the tensile strength of bamboo fiber extracted by the steam-explosion method was larger than that of bamboo fiber cut out from a raw bamboo indicating the steam-explosion is suitable extraction method for bamboo fibers. In addition, the tensile strength of bamboo fibers also depended on their height sampled. The bamboo fibers sampled from relatively high position had low tensile strength and these weak fibers were not suitable as reinforcements for high-strength composites.
