Directionally arranged flexible bamboo/rubber materials with high cushion performance.

Composites derived from plant fibers are promising reinforcing materials for engineering because of their renewable and easily available characteristics. In this study, a simple pretreatment method was developed to fabricate structurally intact bamboo cellulose scaffolds. Water-stable, flexible, impact-resistant, and high damping ratio bamboo-based rubber composites were synthesized using carboxylated styrene-butadiene latex-impregnated 3D bamboo scaffolds. The composites were prepared by "Ethanol dehydration-delignification-polymer redistribution" strategy. The bamboo cellulose aggregate state structure and multiple crosslinked networks in the composite systems endowed the composites with strong mechanical and damping properties. The prepared composites had a high tensile strength, 67 times that of pure rubber (101.58 MPa and 1.25 MPa), which is higher than that of reported polymer-based vibration-damping materials, and the hydrostability was also significantly improved. The composites exhibited the characteristic viscoelasticity of polymers, with a recovery angle of 132° after 1000 extreme 180° flexion tests. More importantly, composites maintain a higher effective damping factor (Tan δ = 0.5) at room temperature. These bamboo-based rubber composites with excellent comprehensive performances have great potential for engineering applications, particularly for vibration damping, lightweight design, and flexible materials.