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Effect of nanoclay fillers on wood adhesives and particle board properties Xian, Diyan

Abstract

The objective of this research is to investigate the effect of nanoclay additions to particleboard resins on the properties of particleboard made with those resins. Two nanoclays, Cloisite30B, a modified nanoclay and Nanofil16, an unmodified clay, were blended with the two resins used to produce particleboard: Urea Formaldehyde (UF) and Melamine Formaldehyde (MF). Coupling agent was added to nanoclays to facilitate clay dispersion into the resin. X-ray diffraction tests showed that mechanical mixing was sufficient to exfoliate Closite30B into both resin types and enable the intercalation of Nanofil116/resin mixtures. Addition of nanoclays and coupling agents had small to severe adverse effects on resin curing: Cloisite30B slightly delayed the curing process of both UF and MF resin and reduced the reaction heat of curing, and the addition of coupling agent together with Closite30B further compounded this effect. Nanofil116 significantly delayed the curing reaction of both resins and decreased the heat of reaction. The coupling agent had a significant further detrimental effect on the resin cure. In order to test whether nanoclays had a positive or negative effect on the adhesive strength of UF and MF resins, the shear strength of clay-modified resin were tested and compared with that of unadulterated resin. Regardless of whether coupling agent was used, the clay-modified UF resin had lower bonding strength than pure UF resin. In contrast, three kind of clay-modified MF resin had higher bonding strength then pure MF resin. Based on these findings those MF resins which have higher shear strength were blended with furnish to fabricate particle board using different clay loading rates. Most clay treatments had no significant effect on particleboard physical or mechanical properties. The only significant improvement was for internal bond strength which increased when using either 2% Closite30B or Nanofil116 with or without coupling agent. Higher clay loading rates tended to decrease board strength properties. In conclusion, the modified Closite30B nanoclay and the unmodified Nanofil116 nanoclay had only a minor effect on improving UF and MF resin strength and the particle board properties.

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