Bamboo is one of the most promising biomass materials in the world. However, the poor anti-mildew property and poor dimensional stability limits its outdoor applications. Current scholars focus on the modification of bamboo through heat treatment. Arc-shaped bamboo sheets are new bamboo products for special decoration in daily life. In this paper, we reported pressure-steam heat treatment and explored the effect of pressure-steam on the micro-structure, crystallinity index, anti-mildew, chemical composition, physical properties, and mechanical properties of bamboo via X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), wet chemistry method and nanoindentation (NI). Herein, saturated-steam heat treatment was applied for modified moso bamboo for enhancing the anti-mildew properties and mechanical properties of moso bamboo. Results showed that with the introduction of saturated steam, the content of hemicellulose and cellulose decreased, while the lignin-relative content increased significantly. The anti-mildew property of moso bamboo was enhanced due to the decomposition of polysaccharide. Last, the modulus of elasticity and hardness of treated moso bamboo cell walls were enhanced after saturated-steam heat treatment. For example, the MOE of the treated moso bamboo cell wall increased from 12.7 GPa to 15.7 GPa. This heat treatment strategy can enhance the anti-mildew property of moso bamboo and can gain more attention from entrepreneurs and scholars.
Keywords: anti-mildew property; bamboo; bamboo cell wall; pressure-steam heat treatment.