S. THANGARAJ, M. MURUGAN: PERFORMANCE OF AN EPOXY-FILLER-MODIFIED BAMBOO-REINFORCED ...
11–17
PERFORMANCE OF AN EPOXY-FILLER-MODIFIED
BAMBOO-REINFORCED CONCRETE SLAB
LASTNOSTI BETONSKIH BLOKOV MODIFICIRANIH Z
EPOKSIDNIM POLNILOM IN OJA^ITVIJO IZ BAMBUSA
Seethalakshmi Thangaraj
*
, Madasamy Murugan
Government College of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
Prejem rokopisa – received: 2022-09-30; sprejem za objavo – accepted for publication: 2022-11-30
doi:10.17222/mit.2022.637
The necessity for a transition in the building industry towards sustainability has made bamboo-based construction more preva-
lent in recent decades. This paper demonstrates the development and performance evaluation of a newly developed cementitious
composite slab panel containing nano-basalt powder (nBP) modified epoxy-coated bamboo as the reinforcement. The experi-
mental research conducted on six slab panels ((600 × 450 × 50) mm), each having a different reinforcement type, demonstrated
that the one with the nBP-modified epoxy-coated bamboo reinforcement showed significantly improved flexural performance
by exhibiting better bonding characteristics. When compared to the uncoated bamboo-reinforced slab, the bond strength of the
nBP-modified epoxy-coated bamboo-reinforced slab rose by about 32 %, to around 5.65 MPa. A flexural strength of about
73 MPa and a bond strength of about 6.26 MPa were attained due to the use of the nano-basalt powder modified epoxy-coated
bamboo reinforcements with glass wrapping (nBGS). Comparing the nBGS slab to a slab of conventional cement concrete re-
vealed an increase in the load-carrying capability of nearly 89 %.
Keywords: bamboo slab, epoxy coating, glass coating, basalt filler
Zaradi zahtev po prehodu na trajnostno naravnano dru`bo in gospodarstvo se je v zadnjem desetletju gradbeni{tvo usmerilo tudi
v izdelavo konstrukcij in gradbenih elementov na osnovi bambusa. V ~lankuje predstavljen razvoj in ovrednotenje lastnosti na
novo razvitih modificiranih cementnih kompozitnih blokov in plo{~, ki vsebujejo nano-bazaltni prah (nBP) in oja~itev iz
bambusa, prevle~enega z epoksidno smolo. Eksperimentalna raziskavaje bila narejena na {estih plo{~atih blokih dimenzij
(600 × 450 × 50) mm. Vsak betonski blok je vseboval druga~no vrsto oja~itve, pri ~emer je imel betonski blok, modificiranz
nBP in z epoksidno smolo prevle~eno oja~itev iz bambusa, bolj{o upogibno trdnost zaradi bolj{ih lastnosti medsebojne vezave.
Primerjava betonskega bloka modificiranega z nBP in z epoksidno smolo prevle~eno oja~itev iz bambusa zbetonskim blokom, ki
je bil oja~an le z neprevle~enim bambusom je pokazala, da ima prviza okoli 32 % bolj{o vezavno trdnost, kar pomeni pribli`no
5,65 MPa. Pri betonskem bloku, ki je vseboval nanobazaltni prah prevle~en s steklom (nGBS) in oja~itev iz bambusa,
prevle~enega z epoksidno smolo pa so dosegli upogibno trdnost 73 MPa in vezivno trdnost okoli 6,26 MPa. Primerjava
nBGS bloka s konvencionalnim cementnim blokom je pokazala, da ima prvi za pribli`no 89 % bolj{o nosilnost.
Klju~ne besede: betonski blok, oja~itev z bambusom, epoksidna prevleka, steklena prevleka, bazaltno polnilo
1 INTRODUCTION
Bamboo is renowned for its eco-friendly and sustain-
able qualities, as well as its superior strength-to-weight
ratio.
1
Utilizing bamboo in building has resulted in sub-
stantial economic gains and reduced environmental im-
pacts. Bamboo is a part of the grass family and is the
fastest growing eco-friendly alternative to steel rein-
forcements for use in concrete. Due to their longevity
and strength, bamboo structures resemble traditional RC
structures constructed of steel and concrete.
2
Using bam-
boo as a reinforcement, it is possible to make very rigid
slab panels that can be used for both structural and
non-structural purposes.
3
Reinforced concrete is one of the most extensively
used materials in the construction; however, the cost and
weight of the reinforcements make them expensive or
non-renewable materials, restricting their use in the con-
struction. To reduce this risk and improve the durability
of reinforced concrete, in recent decades, the use of
bio-based reinforcements has been attempted.
4
Bamboo
has very good strength and stability, even in its natural
form, and can be used as an efficient reinforcement ma-
terial for structural use.
5,6
Bamboo is a material that can
withstand both compressive and flexural loads, like
structural steel, if the durability concerns are addressed.
7
Several researchers have investigated the use of bamboo
as a reinforcement material for columns, beams, and
slabs.
8–10
The excess water absorbed by bamboo fibers,
i.e., the water in the concrete, leads to the weakening and
splitting of the fibers, causing a considerable loss in du-
rability over time.
11
Concrete is alkaline in nature and it
affects the chemical nature of bamboo fibres.
12
Due to
the smooth surface of the bamboo reinforcement, the an-
chorage interlocking and bonding between the reinforce-
ment and the concrete material cause mechanical failure
of the concrete matrix, which leads to mechanical frac-
ture casting of slabs.
13
Previously, coatings of epoxy, water-based sol-
vents/paints and bitumen were employed to limit the
Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 57 (2023) 1, 11–17 11
UDK 666.982.7 ISSN 1580-2949
Original scientific article/Izvirni znanstveni ~lanek MTAEC9, 57(1)11(2023)
*Corresponding author's e-mail:
seethalakshmi.autvl@gmail.com (Seethalakshmi Thangaraj)

penetration of concrete water into the bamboo reinforce-
ment. The primary issue with such coatings is that they
are effective for only a few years, after which they be-
come brittle and lose their endurance.
14
The epoxy
treated with nBP has stronger strength and durability
than the epoxy used in the previous work.
15
Primarily,
adhesion and surface roughness maintain the connection
between the reinforcement and the concrete.
16
In the
present study, a number of additives and coatings are
presented as solutions for addressing the issue of using
bamboo as the reinforcement for concrete structural ele-
ments. The research endeavored to use nano-basalt pow-
der (nBP) as the filler in epoxy resin for coating bamboo
reinforcements with glass-particle wrapping instead of
sand wrapping. As a coating for reinforcement, epoxy
has been utilised to resist water penetration into bamboo
and sand has been utilized as a friction enhancer. The
study attempts to use waste glass particle wrapping in-
stead of sand wrapping for epoxy coating with an
nBP-filler addition. Apart from the contribution of the
coating to the durability of the reinforcement, the flex-
ural performance and bond behavior of the composite
material must be evaluated to ensure its structural integ-
rity and viability for use in concrete structural elements
which is the novelty of the research.
2 EXPERIMENTASL PART
2.1 Materials
2.1.1 Bamboo as the reinforcement
The present study tries to demonstrate the feasibility
of using bamboo as the main reinforcement in a slab, fo-
cusing on the bond behaviour and flexural behaviour.
The bamboo reinforcement selected was 5 y old and had
a density of 1190 kg/m
3
. The bamboo culms were im-
mersed in boric acid and kept under treatment for about
72 h, after which they were dried for about5datroom
temperature.
2.1.2 Epoxy resin as the coating agent
The epoxy resin used in the present study was ob-
tained from ASTRRA Chemicals, Tamilnadu, India. The
epoxy resin is generally a two-part polymer-based mix-
ture containing epoxy resin (epichlorohydrin based resin)
and a hardener (bisphenol A based). The curing of the
epoxy resin used in the present study was done at room
temperature. The mixing ratio of the hardener and epoxy
resin was1:1byweight.
2.1.3 Basalt powder as the filler in epoxy
Basalt powder with a particle size of 40 μm was used
in this study. The obtained basalt powder was ground in
a ball mill to create a nanoparticle structure. The basalt
particles were maintained on a tray and put inside a
ball-milling machine with a number of metal bobs of
various sizes. A rate of 300 min
–1
and a milling time of
4 h were used.
2.1.4 Fabrication of the bamboo reinforcement
Bambus arundinacea (Indian bamboo) was selected
for use as the reinforcement in this study because it pos-
sesses superior mechanical strength and physical proper-
ties. The National Building Code of India (2016) also
recommended its use in building. The bamboo was col-
lected with care, inspected for surface imperfections and
given an initial chemical treatment before being covered
with epoxy resin (1 : 1 ratio with the hardener). The
coating was applied approximately 24 h prior to placing
the bamboo inside a concrete-slab mold and before pour-
ing the concrete. The present experiment consists of
eight different slabs with different types of reinforce-
ment, as shown in Table 1. To prevent the lumping and
aggregation of the nanofiller (nBP), it was distributed in
the epoxy matrix through thorough mixing. The percent-
age of nBP was fixed to be 10 % by weight of epoxy
with the hardener to achieve better dispersion and greater
durability. Two series of slabs were cast, one with sand
blasting over the epoxy coating and the other with
crushed angular glass particles coated over the epoxy.
Two different grain sizes of glass aggregates of
1.5–0.8 mm and 0.85–0.3 mm were used to coat the ep-
oxy and the ratio between them was kept as1:3.
Table 1: Details of slab reinforcements employed in the study
Batch
No.
Slab type
Reinforcement
type
Designa-
tion
1
Plain cement concrete
slab
None PCS
2 Reinforced concrete slab Steel RCS
3
Bamboo reinforced con-
crete slab
Bamboo BRS
4
Epoxy coated bamboo
reinforced concrete slab
Epoxy coated
bamboo
EBS
5
Epoxy/sand coated bam-
boo reinforced concrete
slab
Epoxy + sand
coated bamboo
SEBS
6
Epoxy/glass coated bam-
boo reinforced concrete
slab
Epoxy + glass
coated bamboo
GEBS
7
Epoxy/sand/nBP coated
bamboo reinforced con-
crete slab
nBP modified
epoxy/sand
coated bamboo
nBSS
8
Epoxy/glass/nBP coated
bamboo reinforced con-
crete slab
nBP modified
epoxy/glass
coated bamboo
nBGS
2.2 Casting and proportions
The M25 grade of concrete was used for the fabrica-
tion of concrete slabs. The mix design was carried out in
accordance with IS-10262:2019, and concrete cubes and
beams were tested in accordance with IS 456:2000 (reaf-
firmed 2021). The resulting mix design was 1 : 1.95 : 3.39
with a w/c ratio of 0.47. The slabs were cast as per In-
dian standards and the layout of the slab casting is sche-
matically represented in the Figure 1. The dimensions of
these lab panels were (600 × 450 × 50) mm, and the ap-
proximate dimensions of the rectangular strips of the
S. THANGARAJ, M. MURUGAN: PERFORMANCE OF AN EPOXY-FILLER-MODIFIED BAMBOO-REINFORCED ...
12 Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 57 (2023) 1, 11–17

bamboo reinforcements were (600 × 10) mm, with a
thickness of 10 mm. The different types of reinforce-
ments used for the slabs included conventional steel and
modified bamboo. The slabs were cast in batches, and
three slabs were cast for each type to ensure accuracy.
The slabs were cast at room temperature and kept in the
mold for 24 h before they were demoulded and kept un-
der water for 28 d before testing.
2.3 Testing
The bonding behaviour of the bamboo reinforcement
used for the slabs was determined by conducting a
pull-out test on the concrete cylinders. As the behaviour
and attributes of bamboo reinforcements differ from
those of standard steel bars, their bond characteristics
must be considered in order to visualise the subsequent
impacts on cracking and deflection. Figure 2 schemati-
cally illustrates the pressures influencing the bond
strength between the concrete and the bamboo-compos-
ite reinforcement. The concrete cylinders for the pull-out
strength test have been cast in accordance with
ASTM-C192:2019 and for each reinforcement type; five
samples were cast and tested in accordance with ASTM-
D7913:2014. The length of the bamboo reinforcement is
kept at five times the average diameter of the bar embed-
ded in the concrete. The load is gradually applied at a
rate of 20 kN/min until the specimen undergoes failure.
A computerised acquisition system captures the pull-out
load and slip values during the test. The bond stress cal-
culation is done using Equation (1):
 =
+
P
ab L () 22
d
(1)
where  is the average bond stress in MPa, P is the ten-
sile force in N, d is the diameter of the bar in mm, and
L
d
is the bond length in mm. The slip of the bamboo re-
inforcement in concrete can also be obtained with Equa-
tion (2),
S = S
L
– S
F
(2)
where S is the slip of the bars in mm, S
L
is the slip at the
load end in mm, and S
F
is the slip at the free end in mm.
The specimens were subjected to flexural testing us-
ing a flexural testing machine conforming to the EN
standard (EN 12390-4:2019) and the displacement near
the point of load application was measured using a strain
gauge placed in the centre of the slab. A hydraulic jack
with a capacity of 250 kN was used to statically apply
the load to the slabs, while the application of the load
was controlled by a proving ring. The load was gradually
increased by roughly 1.5 kN/s until the failure of the
S. THANGARAJ, M. MURUGAN: PERFORMANCE OF AN EPOXY-FILLER-MODIFIED BAMBOO-REINFORCED ...
Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 57 (2023) 1, 11–17 13
Figure 2: Bond strength between bamboo and concrete
Figure 1: Experimental test set-up for cast slabs

slabs and the respective deflections were recorded until
the specimens broke under the ultimate failure load.
3 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Bond behaviour
Figure 3 depicts typical load-deflection curves for
tensile and bond failure of the bamboo reinforcement.
The tensile failure indicates a load deflection curve that
demonstrates an elastic and linear increase in the curve
prior to the tensile failure of the specimen. The bond fail-
ure depicts the linear behavior of the material until the
slippage caused by the bond failure forms a plateau-like
region on the curve. Eventually, the bar separates from
the specimen, resulting in bond failure and a decreasing
load deflection curve.
Slipping failure of the specimens is another kind of
failure that causes the specimen to break because the ten-
sile-load fasteners cause a specimen to split. In the pres-
ent study, the slabs failed due to tensile or bond failure.
However, splitting failure was not observed. The con-
crete with the bamboo reinforcement exhibited bond fail-
ure owing to slippage, and the curves correlated with the
bond-failure curve depicted in Figure 4. The RCC with
steel reinforcement displayed a greater bond strength
without any slippage or bond breakdown. The failure
was entirely tensile and well linked with the tensile-bond
failure curve.
Table 2 displays the bond strength results for the
slabs and the mode of failure of the specimens. The bam-
boo bars had a cross-section of approximately
(10 × 10) mm, and the length embedded in the concrete
to determine the bond strength was around 200 mm. The
bond strength of the epoxy-coated bamboo-reinforced
slab was about 4.36 MPa, which corresponded very well
with the bond strength value observed in a similar prior
research. The increased bond strength of the nBP-modi-
fied epoxy-coated bamboo-reinforced slab (nBSS) was
around 5.65 MPa, which is approximately 32 % stronger
than the bond strength of the uncoated bamboo rein-
forced slab (BRS). According to the results, the addition
of nBP to the epoxy resin enhanced the connection be-
tween the concrete and bamboo reinforcement. This en-
hancement in the binding strength is dependent mainly
on the surface roughness of the epoxy layer, which is en-
hanced by the sand-coating process. The interlocking
mechanism is much more essential for increasing the
binding strength of the reinforcement, which is embed-
ded in the concrete cylinder.
17
The addition of nBP as the filler considerably im-
proves the adhesiveness of the epoxy with the bamboo
reinforcement, which further inhibits the bamboo bars
from slipping. To cause tensile failure in the bamboo re-
inforcement, the frictional force displayed by the rein-
forcement bars must be larger than the pull-out force. If
the pull-out load exceeds the tensile strength of the bam-
boo reinforcement, slippage occurs, resulting in bond
failure. The epoxy-coated bamboo bar with glass coating
exhibits a remarkable improvement in the bond strength,
and its values are slightly closer to those of steel bars.
Compared to the sand-spraying operation, glass blasting
on the epoxy coating further boosts the binding strength
to achieve values comparable to those of traditional steel
reinforcements. The maximum bond strength of around
6.26 MPa is achieved by combining glass coating with
the nBP filler-modified epoxy coating (nBGS). In con-
trast, the bamboo bars exhibited nearly identical behav-
ior with and without epoxy coating, with just a 2.35 %
change in the bond strength. Given that there is no statis-
tically significant difference in the bond strength of the
bamboo reinforcement with and without epoxy coating,
the usage of plain epoxy coating has a very little or neg-
ligible influence on modifying the bond strength of the
bamboo-reinforced concrete.
S. THANGARAJ, M. MURUGAN: PERFORMANCE OF AN EPOXY-FILLER-MODIFIED BAMBOO-REINFORCED ...
14 Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 57 (2023) 1, 11–17
Figure 4: Bond stress/slip of developed slab composites Figure 3: Typical load-displacement curve for different failure modes

Table 2: Pull-out and bond strength of cast slabs
Slab
Embedment
length (mm)
Pull-out load
at failure (kN)
Bond
strength
(MPa)
Failure
mode
RCS 200 58.3 7.29 Tensile
BRS 200 34.1 4.26 Bond
EBS 200 34.9 4.36 Bond
SEBS 200 38.1 4.76 Tensile
GEBS 200 40.2 5.03 Tensile
nBSS 200 45.2 5.65 Tensile
nBGS 200 50.1 6.26 Tensile
From the bond strength test, it can also be seen that
the slip values of the plain bamboo reinforcements (BRs)
were much higher; a value of 2.25 mm was obtained at
the free end and the slip value at the load end was about
3.4 mm at the corresponding maximum bond stress,
which can be evident from Figure 4. The nBP-modified
epoxy-coated bamboo reinforcements showed relatively
smaller values of the slip, indicating greater bonding of
the reinforcement with the concrete. The slip values of
the free end were much lower when compared to the load
end of the nBP-modified epoxy-coated bamboo rein-
forcement. The slip values were reduced further when
epoxy was used as the coating agent along with nBP mi-
cro-fillers and with sand coating. A better pull-out load
at failure was obtained, reaching up to 50 kN with a
higher bond strength of about 6.26 MPa, obtained for
nBGS, but not higher than RCS. The bond strength of
the bamboo reinforcements with nBP-modified epoxy
coating and glass coating showed superior bond charac-
teristics with minimum slippage and greater pull-out
strength.
3.2 Flexural performance
The energy absorption capacity and results of the first
crack formations for the slab panels after being subjected
to flexural loading are shown in Table 3. The plain ce-
ment concrete slab (PCS) showed brittle failure due to a
lack of reinforcements and the elastic behavior of the
slab extended up to 38.5 kN, beyond which the failure
was sudden. The average displacement exhibited by the
PCS was 2.55 mm, indicating that the ductility of the
PCS was much smaller when coupled with a low energy
absorption capacity. The RCSs with 8-mm-diameter rods
exhibited better flexural performance with a failure load
attainment greater than 74.2 kN and an average displace-
ment of 9.23 mm. Higher strain values indicate a higher
energy absorption capacity of the RCC slab when com-
pared to the other slabs. The bamboo-reinforced slabs,
acting as structural slabs, showed relatively poor flexural
performance. The load deflection behavior of all the
slabs also clearly showed that the epoxy coating without
nBP additives showed a relatively quick attainment of
the first crack load and a relatively low ultimate load.
The experimental ultimate load was reached at 72.1 kN
when nBP was used as the reinforcing filler in the ep-
oxy-resin coating. It can be clearly seen that the first
crack load increased for the slab that contained epoxy
coating reinforced with nBP. The slab that contained
bamboo reinforcements with glass-wrapped nBP-modi-
fied epoxy coating exhibited the best flexural perfor-
mance with a greater first crack load and ultimate load.
The load-carrying capacity was increased by about 89 %
for the nBGS slab when compared to the plain cement
concrete slab (PCS).
The load deflection curves of the bamboo-reinforced
slabs with different coatings are shown in Figure 5. The
load deflection curve of the plain cement concrete
clearly shows a steeper linear rise until the first crack
load, after which a blunt non-linear fall is observed. The
RCC slab exhibited ductile failure with a reasonable
amount of flexural strength. The plain epoxy-coated
bamboo-reinforced slab (EBRS) showed a linear in-
crease in the load deflection, indicating elastic perfor-
mance up to the first crack load, after which inelastic be-
haviour was observed. The load carrying ability of the
nBP-modified epoxy-coated bamboo-reinforced slab
showed about 30 % higher ultimate strength than the
plain epoxy-coated BRS. The load deflection curve of
the nBP-modified epoxy-coated slab with glass wrapping
showed almost similar flexural performance as the steel
bar reinforced slabs but with lower deflection values for
the same load values. This shows a greater contribution
of the nBP filler in epoxy, also showing better traits of
bonding and resistance to deformation. Interestingly, the
reduction in the deformation is an indicator of an in-
crease in the flexural rigidity of the material accompa-
S. THANGARAJ, M. MURUGAN: PERFORMANCE OF AN EPOXY-FILLER-MODIFIED BAMBOO-REINFORCED ...
Materiali in tehnologije / Materials and technology 57 (2023) 1, 11–17 15
Table 3: Results obtained for loads and deflections
Mix Id
First crack Ultimate crack Ultimate to
first crack
load ratio
Ultimate to
first crack de-
flection ratio
Energy
absorption
(J)
Load
(kN)
Deflection
(mm)
Load
(kN)
Deflection
(mm)
PCS 37.40 2.24 39.84 2.52 1.07 1.13 58.81
RCS 44.61 1.98 71.95 9.21 1.61 4.65 602.46
BRS 37.35 2.99 52.19 5.13 1.40 1.72 206.67
EBS 43.81 2.94 53.11 5.08 1.27 3.00 275.14
SEBS 51.77 2.44 70.02 7.82 1.35 3.20 499.09
GEBS 39.25 2.53 69.88 8.74 1.78 3.45 441.47
nBSS 44.81 2.72 71.71 8.31 1.60 3.06 460.91
nBGS 60.08 2.55 70.35 9.01 1.17 3.53 591.20

nied by a modification in the modulus of elasticity of the
epoxy resin due to the nBP and glass additions that mini-
mized the deflection of the slab. However, no reduction
in the ultimate flexural load was observed, confirming
the bond strength results, and indicating that the nBP
functioned as the strengthening agent in the epoxy ma-
trix with a greater adhesiveness and reinforcing effect.
Another possible explanation for this is that the im-
proved ultimate flexural load accompanied by lower de-
formation may be caused by the glass coating on the
nBP-modified epoxy resin, making the concrete rela-
tively stiffer with its interlocking characteristics and
making it resistant to bending.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This research presented a novel concept of utilizing
nano-basalt powder modified epoxy resin as a surface
coating agent for bamboo reinforcements in concrete
slabs with glass-particle coating instead of the conven-
tional sand coating. The bamboo reinforcements were
subjected to the initial surface modification through a
chemical treatment and then coated with epoxy resin
with and without nBP fillers, and the performance was
compared to the conventional plain cement concrete
slabs and RCC slabs containing steel reinforcement. The
investigated properties were the bond behavior of the
bamboo reinforcement and the flexural performance of
the slab in comparison to the steel reinforcement. The
experimental results thus showed that the developed slab
panels with nBP-modified epoxy-coated bamboo bars
with added glass particles demonstrated in the present
work are highly promising for use as the reinforcements
in eco-friendly low-cost building components due to
their distinct structural performance. In summary, the ex-
perimental study proposes an efficient and facile ap-
proach to developing high-strength bamboo-reinforced
slabs using locally available materials and natural addi-
tives, as they can be considered promising building mate-
rials due to their unique structural performance.
The future part of the study will focus on the factors
that affect the slip and stress distribution in a slab. The
experiment shall also be extended to study the behaviour
of the slab under cyclic and seismic loading. Precast slab
panels for use in practical applications shall be devel-
oped.
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