2.4.1 Durability

The durability of bamboo fiber reinforced polypropylene can be increased by hybridizing it with small amount of glass fiber (Thwe and Liao 2002a). Bamboo glass fiber reinforced polypropylene composites have a very high fatigue resis­tance, which results in its extremely good durability (Thwe and Liao 2003).

The durability of bamboo fiber depends on high tensile strength, flexural strength, tensile load, moisture absorption, and molding capacity (Thwe and Liao 2002a). Unlike vegetal materials, bamboo durability is not affected by high pH. Bamboo fibers are set into concrete prisms and exposed to wetting and drying for 24 h. Then speci­mens without concrete and specimens with concrete are immersed in tap water. Different mechanical properties are measured after 7, 15, 30, 45, and 60 cycles. The results showed that there is no considerable change in these mechanical properties. These aggressive tests thus attest the durability of bamboo fibers (Lima et al. 2008).