A comprehensive overview of bamboo scrimber and its new development in China

Bamboo scrimber, a bio-material which is made of bamboo, has been considered as a substitute material in place of wood in China under the situation of increasing contradiction between supply and demand of wood resources. In the last decades, the fabrication technology of bamboo scrimber has been improved, which promotes the applications of this material. Especially in China where the bamboo scrimber was developed originally, blowout-like growth has emerged in related research in the recent 3–5 years. It is urgent to summarize the relevant research and present it to more people who are concerned with the aspects of bamboo scrimber as a bio-material. This paper presents a comprehensive introduction to bamboo scrimber including fabrication, properties, heat treatment, anti-mildew and anti-fungi, surface coating, machining, applications, etc. based on a review of literature from Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) and Web of Science. This work not only establishes fabrication parameters, surface proof technologies and application samples for the industry practice but also summarizes detailed inspection standards, mechanical and thermal properties regarding bamboo scrimber for the reference of scientific research