Effect of carbonization treatment on the physicochemical properties of bamboo particleboard.

[Display omitted] • The carbonization treatment improves the dimensional stability and the IB of bamboo particleboard. • The mechanism why carbonization affects the physicochemical properties of bamboo particleboard was explored. The carbonization treatment was applied to the preparation of bamboo particleboard to investigate the effects of light and deep carbonization treatment on the structural properties and the related physicochemical properties of bamboo particleboard. The results show that both carbonization treatments causes hydrolysis of hemicellulose and cellulose and degradation, condensation and reorganization of lignin. Compared with original bamboo, the crystallinity of cellulose of bamboo treated with deep carbonization increases by 29.3 %. With the increase of carbonization temperature, the static bending strength and nail-holding force of bamboo particleboard decrease, and the modulus of elasticity decrease and then increase. The dimensional stability and internal bond strength improve significantly due to the carbonization. The 24 h thickness swelling of deep carbon bamboo particleboard is only 2.2%, and the internal bond strength reaches 1.6 MPa. The flame retardant and smoke suppression performance also enhances with the increase of carbonization temperature, but formaldehyde emission increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]