Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, 2012.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 34).Bamboo has received much interest recently as a construction material due to its strength, rapid growth, and abundance in developing nations such as China, India, and Brazil. The main obstacle to the widespread use of bamboo as a structural material is the lack of adequate information on the mechanical properties of bamboo. In this work, the microstructure and mechanical properties of Phyllostachis dulcis bamboo are studied to help produce a model for the mechanical properties of bamboo. Specifically, a linear relationship is established between the density of bamboo samples, which is known to vary radially, and their strength in compression. Nanoindentation of vascular bundles in various positions in bamboo samples revealed that the Young's modulus and hardness of the bundles vary in the radial direction but not around the circumference. The compressive strength of bamboo samples was found to vary from 40 to 95 MPa, while nanoindentation results show the Young's modulus of vascular bundles ranges from 15 to 18 GPa and the hardness ranges from 380 to 530 MPa.by Michael R. Gerhardt.S.B
