Feasibility of bamboo fibre reinforced green plastics applications for building components

The paper describes the results obtained during a feasibility study to analyse and evaluate the potential development of bamboo fibre reinforced green plastic to be adopted in building components applications. The focus is pointed to the sustainability aspects of the application. The choice to combine bamboo fibres with green polymers (e.g. polylactide - PLA) provides very good advantages with respect to the Life Cycle Assessment balance; while the obtained fibre reinforced plastic guarantees the adequate mechanical resistance and thermal insulation required for nowadays windows frame application. The procedure to select the most appropriate fibres, to compound the composite and to hot-draw the profiles are described, in addition to the description of a very basic window frame prototype. The main results obtained both from a mechanical and physic-chemical characterization of the reinforced polymer are also summarized. Finally, an assessment is proposed for the development and characterization of a fibre reinforced material with green polymers (PBS, or PLA, PHA / PHB) in combination with bamboo fibres to be adopted in building components applications, e.g. window and door frames. A "green" product with characteristics of stiffness and strength, able to replace the materials obtained from processing of polymers derived from oil, often used in combination with glass fibres or synthetic fibres in various sectors.