Formaldehyde-based adhesives such as urea-formaldehyde (UF) and phenol-formaldehyde (PF) adhesives dominate the current wood adhesive market. However, these adhesives are derived from petrochemicals and carcinogenic formaldehyde. In this study, we developed two formaldehyde-free adhesives based on abundant, renewable, and inexpensive soy flour (SF).
The first adhesive was mainly composed of...
Synthetic adhesives, such as phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resins and urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins, have dominated the wood adhesive market since they were introduced in the wood products industry. Formaldehyde, as a key component in the manufacturing of PF and UF resins, has been classified as a known human carcinogen by the International...
Abstract: Three novel curing agents ( I , II , and III) were synthesized
from epichlorohydrin and ammonium hydroxide.
The combinations of soy flour (SF) with one of the curing
agents (SF- I , SF- II , and SF- III ) were investigated as adhesives
for making interior plywood. Water...
Natural fibers are gaining popularity as reinforcement materials for thermoset resins over the last two decades. Natural fibers are inexpensive, abundant, renewable and environmentally friendly. Kenaf fibers are one of the natural fibers that can potentially be used for reinforcing unsaturated polyester (UPE). As a polymer matrix, UPE enjoys a...
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...
Resistance to moisture uptake is an important attribute of some wood preservatives and can help reduce moisture cycling that leads to the development of deep checks. While the potential for preservative treatments to help improve wood/moisture interactions is acknowledged, there are no tests that specifically evaluate this performance parameter. Checking...
This study examined the decay resistance of the pine and maple components of wood plastic composites (WPC' s) of varying thicknesses exposed on several culture media to wood decay fungi under laboratory conditions. The ability of malt agar extract (MEA), potato dextrose agar (PDA), amended basal salts, sawdust (maple and...
Wood adhesives are essential components of wood composites. At
present, the commonly used wood adhesives, phenol-formaldehyde (PF)
and urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins, are petroleum-based synthetic resins
that may result in emission of formaldehyde in the production and use of
wood composites. Because the world's oil reserves are naturally limited
and formaldehyde...
During the past several decades, earthquakes have caused extensive damage to
buildings, including wood-frame, single-family dwellings, in the United States. In
order to mitigate future losses, existing buildings in earthquake prone areas should be
evaluated for their seismic safety. This is also an important issue for buildings in
Oregon due...
Many paper products like towel and tissue cannot serve their purposes without temporary wet strength Glyoxal-polyacrylamide (GPA) resin is one of the widely used commercial wet strength additives that impart the temporary wet strength to paper and paperboard products However, GPA resin is derived from petrochemicals and contributes to contaminants...
Polymeric composites reinforced with bio-materials have advantages over composites with synthetic reinforcements. Bio-based composites use low-cost and renewable reinforcements, have nonabrasive properties for machining, have improved damping characteristics, and have potential for energy recycling. However, the limited use of bio-based composites is because their mechanical properties are typically much lower...
The fabrication of nano-scale devices is a challenging, but potentially important, technology that has drawn a great deal of interest among researchers. Such nanoscale constructions utilizing a bottom-up approach for device building have many foreseeable applications in areas as diverse as miniaturized electronics, sensors, and biomedical devices.
One of the...
We sampled boles, branches, and roots of four Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii) trees to learn a) whether branches and roots have a zone of juvenile wood, defined as a zone with progressive changes in wood density and/or tracheid length from the pith outward at successively greater cambial
ages, and...
This research investigated the longevity of functional connections between leaf traces and stem xylem in 16 species of conifers to better understand the spatial use of sapwood for water transport. The first question was which ring(s) stained when a vacuum was applied to the distal end of the cut surface...
This study investigated variation in xylem anatomy, hydraulic properties, and the relationship between anatomy and properties within Douglas-fir trees at multiple scales. The hierarchical scales in the study included fertilization treatments (fertilized and unfertilized), trees within the treatments, and positions within the trees. Tracheid diameter, tracheid length, percent latewood, number...