An Investigative study on the use of Banana tannin in treating bamboo strips against cement aikali
- Cebu City CIT-U 2013
It is known that alkali will destroy the organization of bamboo which contains protein especially the inner layer because it is soft. Hence, the inner layer should be hardened. The researchers used banana tannin in treating the bamboo. Variations of application of tannin were used like soaking in different set of time and painting the bamboo strips. The tannin will help protect the inner portion of the bamboo against alkali because it solidifies and coats the protein cells. The researchers used an experimental approach in investigating the effect of tannin. Hardness test was performed by the researchers to evaluate the solidification of the bamboo surface. The moisture content of the bamboo strips were monitored in the first 24 hours because Alkali penetrates the bamboo when cement was in liquid state. The researchers found out that painting with banana tannin 3 times made the bamboo strips a harder material since it obtained the highest value of HB number. With regards to moisture absorption, painting with banana tannin 3 times showed favorable results. It was also discovered that moisture absorption was inversely proportional to the hardness of bamboo surface. The researchers recommended that painting 3 times is the best way of applying the banana tannin to the bamboo strips. For further studies, the age of bamboo should be considered as well as its strength and should be tested to determine the relationship to hardness.