Thermoplastic polymers as modifiers for urea–formaldehyde wood adhesives. III. In situ thermoplastic‐modified wood composites

Acrylic monomers and free‐radical initiators were dispersed in an aqueous urea–formaldehyde (UF) suspension and polymerized in situ to afford a suspension containing 5 wt % thermoplastic (5 g of thermoplastic/100 mL of suspension). The viscosity of the thermoplastic‐modified UF suspension (65 wt % solids at 25°C) ranged from 240 to 437 cP versus 121 cP for the unmodified UF control. Wood‐flour composites (sugar maple and 50 wt % adhesive) were prepared with thermoplastic‐modified UF suspensions and cured with the same cycle used for the composites prepared with the unmodified UF adhesive (control). The effect of the thermoplastic‐modified UF adhesive was evaluated on the notched Izod impact strength and equilibrium moisture uptake of the wood‐flour composites. The notched Izod impact strength of the composites prepared with modified UF adhesives increased by as much as 94% above that of the control. The increase depended on the initiator and the monomer composition. The modification affected the equilibrium moisture uptake and rate of moisture uptake in the wood‐flour composites. Preliminary results for particleboard prepared with 10 wt % modified UF adhesive (5% thermoplastic in the UF resin) and unoptimized cure conditions confirmed a significant effect of the thermoplastic modification on both the internal‐bond strength and thickness swelling of the particleboard.