Formaldehyde-based adhesives such as urea-formaldehyde (UF), phenol-formaldehyde (PF) are widely applied in wood-based composite industry. However, these adhesives are all petrochemical-based and could not sustain in a long term due to a limited reserve of oil and natural gas. Moreover, these adhesives emit carcinogenic formaldehyde in the production or use...
Particleboard is widely used for making bookshelf, furniture, cabinets and many other interior products. At present, particleboard is mainly produced with wood particles and urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins. The emission of carcinogenic formaldehyde in the production and use of particleboard has generated an urgent need for development of a formaldehyde-free wood...
Synthetic adhesives like phenol formaldehyde (PF) and isocyanates dominate the
wood based structural panel market. The raw materials that makeup these adhesives
are based on petroleum and natural gas. The sustainability and the continued success
of the wood based structural panel industry will benefit from the development of
alternative adhesives...
Lead-user research is a relatively new marketing research technique, and it has not seen much use in the forest sector. Lead-user research is designed to capture not just the needs of the customer in their own voice but also to involve actual users of goods and/or services in their development....
Most of existing commercial unsaturated polyester (UPE) resins are typically composed of a UPE and a high amount of highly volatile, flammable, and toxic styrene. The emission of hazardous styrene in the handling of the UPE resins and the preparation and use of fiber-reinforced UPE composites poses severe hazards to...
The research explored in this thesis helps provide a better understanding of efforts that have been undertaken to more precisely calculate environmental impacts and human health risks, such as energy consumption, carbon footprint, and toxicity, to support environmental sustainability assessment of products. The work is comprised of two research objectives,...
The purpose of this study was to develop a slow fashion design model using the house of quality model (HOQ) to provide designers an opportunity to improve the overall sustainability of an apparel product. Slow fashion is based on the slow food movement that supports the consumption of food that...
With growing concerns on environment impact of industrial product development, the product developers are seeking better solutions to achieve desired environmental benign requirements by the regulators and customers besides economic growth. During the last decade, some of the most successful product development companies (such as HP) have established their own...