Engineered bamboo
Bamboo strips bonded into boards and structural members. In October 2024 the International Organization for Standardization released the first international product specification for structural glued laminated bamboo, after test methods for engineered bamboo were published in 2022.
Strand-woven bamboo flooring, made from reconstructed bamboo strands, an engineered bamboo product.
Photo: Pazzo4562, via Wikimedia Commons, licence Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). File page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Strand-woven_Bamboo_Flooring.jpg
What it is
Engineered bamboo is made by bonding bamboo into boards and structural members. Glued laminated bamboo and bamboo scrimber are two of its forms, and glued laminated bamboo is one of the most widely used engineered bamboo products worldwide. Bamboo has been used in construction for centuries in Asia, Latin America and Africa, and engineered bamboo products began to be used as structural components in buildings in the 1990s.
Why it matters
Shared international standards give designers, manufacturers and regulators a common reference. On 22 June 2022 the International Organization for Standardization published a standard with test methods for the physical and mechanical properties of engineered bamboo products, developed by the Bamboo Construction Task Force of the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization. On 28 October 2024 it released the first international standard for structural glued laminated bamboo, a product specification proposed by the International Bamboo and Rattan Organization. By December 2024 the working group on structural uses of bamboo had published six international standards on bamboo structures, three for round bamboo and three for engineered bamboo products.
How to read it
Two documents are involved. The 2022 standard gives test methods for determining physical and mechanical properties, defines dimensions, moisture content and density, and applies to prismatic shapes of glued laminated bamboo and bamboo scrimber. The 2024 standard is the product specification for structural glued laminated bamboo.
Limits
The standards of 2022 and 2024 cover test methods for engineered bamboo products and a product specification for glued laminated bamboo. As of December 2024 two further international standards for engineered bamboo were under development. Market volume, cost and carbon balance of engineered bamboo remain unquantified in the sources cited here.
Sources
Links are for verification. The article stays on Fix Planet.
- International Bamboo and Rattan Organization: Defining the future of structural glued laminated bamboo, on ISO 7567:2024 Bamboo structures, Glued laminated bamboo, Product specification : https://www.inbar.int/defining-the-future-of-structural-glued-laminated-bamboo/
- International Bamboo and Rattan Organization: First international standard on engineered bamboo for structural use published, on ISO 23478:2022 Bamboo structures, Engineered bamboo products, Test methods for determination of physical and mechanical properties : https://www.inbar.int/first-international-standard-on-engineered-bamboo/