Cure Behaviour Study of Phenol Formaldehyde on Wood Surface Using Micro-Thermal Analysis

Abstract

It is well known that wood has a marked influence on the cure mechanism of phenolic resins. Since the durability and strength of wood based composites depend on the cured state of the binder, it is important to employ a technique which can identify the wood species which can enhance or retard the curing reaction. It has been shown using the micro-thermal analysis (μ-TA™) that curing behaviour of liquid phenol-formaldehyde resin is significantly affected by the substrates. Essential thermal parameters such as glass transition temperature and cure onset were detected. It was found that certain wood species, such as pine and oak, accelerated the curing rate while other substrates, such as birch and glass substrate retarded the resin curing. The exothermic event associated with the phenol-ormaldehyde curing was also detected for wood substrates which was almost absent in the case of glass substrate. This seems to suggest that wood has certain catalytic effect on the curing of the phenol-formaldehyde resin.