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Formulation enables spraying of particleboard and other wood composites
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued patent No. 8,147,968 to Qu-Ming Gu, research fellow, and Ronald Staib, technical director, both of Ashland Water Technologies' Global Technology group.
| What is it? The patented technology, called “Diluents for crosslinker-containing adhesive compositions,” is an improved adhesive formulation for bonding wood composites like particleboard, and the process for making those composites. The composition is an improvement of the original formulation for Soyad™ adhesives, making it suitable for spraying particleboard and other wood composite products. . |
 Soyad wood adhesives create a cross-linked complex that allows for stronger binding. |
Applications
Soyad adhesives, which are formulated with soy protein and polyamidoamine-epichlorohydrin (PAE) resin, were commercialized in 2006 as alternatives to adhesives containing urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins. While the original Soyad adhesives are ideally suited for manufacturing hardwood plywood, composite wood products such as particleboard, fiberboard and oriented strandboard require an adhesive with a lower viscosity than the original Soyad formulation. Because of drying requirements during the manufacture of wood composites, diluting the adhesive with water isn’t a viable option. One way to lower the viscosity of the Soyad technology is to use urea as a diluent. Although this method works, the use of urea can create processing problems during the manufacturing process.
This invention uses an adhesive composition comprised of a cross-linking agent, a non-urea diluent and an aqueous mixture of protein where the diluents are water-soluble or water-dispersible compounds with low volatility. The diluents typically contain an alcohol functionality and may consist of glycerol, sucrose or corn syrup.
The three components of the patented product are combined in a mixer to create the adhesive. While the order of adding the protein source and the non-urea diluent can be varied, the cross-linking agent is usually added last because of its limited stability in the composition.
Wood composites are formed by applying the adhesive composition to a lignocellulosic substrate and then curing the panel with heat and pressure. The adhesive compositions can be applied by a spray coating or a spinning disk. Other methods of application include roller coating, knife coating, extrusion and foam coating.
Benefits
Unlike prior Soyad adhesive formulations, the newly patented technology can be used to manufacture wood composites such as particleboard, fiberboard, and oriented strandboard. The low viscosity of the composition allows for an easily-applied adhesive system, while the non-urea diluent avoids processing problems and results in stronger binding.
