Bamboo : a distinctive green fibre

This article reports the preliminary findings on the morphology, chemical structure, antimicrobial and UV-screening properties of bamboo fibres. Bamboo fibres provide a very promising alternative to other natural fibres by virtue of their distinctive characteristics such as eco-friendly farming, inherent antimicrobial, UV-protective and highly· breathable properties. However, these novel properties are moslly claimed by fibre manufacturers, with little scientific evidence.  Moreover, those properties may largely depend on the manufacturing process, which is not widely disclosed by the manufacturers, Common manufacturing processes may require the use of a large amount of chemicals which would not make the product truly eco-friendly. Therefore, there is a strong need for unbiased laboratory experiments being conducted in a rigorous manner to elucidate the origin of those unique properties of bamboo fibres and to develop new processing methods to effectively utilise the properties in the final products. This research is aimed to prove the unique characteristics of bamboo fibres scientifically and to develop an efficient manufacturing process, in order to establish the place of bamboo fibres as a novel green material.