The tensile strength of bamboo fibers is observed as 56.8 MPa, which is higher than that of aluminum alloy (Amada and Untao 2001). Bamboo fibers reinforced poly­propylene composites and bamboo glass fiber reinforced polypropylene hybrid composites, when exposed to water, show a decrease in tensile strength and elastic modulus (Thwe and Liao 2003). The high density bamboo fibers are shown to have increased tensile strength when fabricated with maleated polyethylene contents (Han et al. 2008). The tensile strength of bamboo fiber obtained from bamboo fiber blocks is higher than that of separated fiber bundles. This is due to interaction between components in bamboo in which parenchyma cells can pass loads (Shao et al. 2010).

Poly butylene succinate bamboo fiber (PBS/BF) composite has a tensile strength of 21 MPa. When bamboo fiber esterified with maleic anhydride is added in the concentration of 5 %, the tensile strength increases to 28 MPa (Lee and Ohkita 2005). Alkali treated bamboo fiber reinforced composite is shown to have a reduc­tion in tensile strength (Kushwaha and Kumar 2010). Bamboo fiber reinforced plas­tic composites have a measured tensile strength of 102.6 MN m-2 (Jain et al. 1993). The tensile strength of bamboo fiber reinforced epoxy resins is calculated to be

200.5 MN m-2 (Jain et al. 1992). The tensile strength of short bamboo glass fiber reinforced polypropylene composites is best at the fiber length of 1-6 mm (Thwe and Liao 2002b).

The tensile strength of outer periphery of bamboo fibers is approximately 160 kg mm-2 and that of inner periphery is approximately 45 kg mm-2 (Ray et al. 2005). The tensile strength of steam exploded bamboo fiber can be increased by impregnation and reduction in number of voids (Okubo et al. 2004). Green compos­ites made from bamboo fibers show the tensile strength of 330 MPa at the fiber volume of 70 %. This tensile strength is observed to be higher than that of the com­posites prepared from biodegradable resins (Cao and Wu 2008). The tensile strength of permanganate treated bamboo polyester fibers is increased by 58 % and that treated with benzoyl chloride is 71 % (Kushwaha and Kumar 2010).

The tensile strength of bamboo fiber reinforced poly propylene composite after aging of 1,200 h at 25 °C temperature is reduced by 12.2 % and that of bamboo glass fiber reinforced poly propylene composite is reduced by 7.5 %. The strength reduction can be suppressed by using MAPP residues (Thwe and Liao 2003).