竹の塑性流動性に関する基礎的検討

―竹によるプラスチックの代替―

抄録

Plastics play a very important role in our lives. However, there are several problems, since they depend strongly on underground resources such as oil. To overcome such problems, we are trying to produce a plastic substitute from bamboo, which is considered to be a promising renewable resource. To make efficient use of the strong fiber structure of bamboo, the raw material was not powdered. To obtain basic data to apply molding methods used on plastics, such as extrusion and injection molding, the flow properties of bamboo were examined using a capillary rheometer. The fluidity improved as the moisture content increased. Oven-dried bamboo showed poor fluidity. However, it was possible to make oven-dried bamboo flow by decomposing its component(s). The qualities of the extruded specimens also depend strongly on the moisture content. The extruded material obtained from oven-dried bamboo was of a matrix state, whereas fiber cells and parenchyma cells were clearly observed in the specimens obtained from air-dried bamboo and bamboo of high moisture content. Transfer molding was performed on bamboo and the result showed the feasibility of using bamboo as a plastic substitute.