Properties of particleboard made with a polyfurfuryl-alcohol/urea-formaldehyde adhesive

The suitability of a new, polyfurfuryl-alcohol/urea-formaldehyde (PFA/UF) adhesive in particleboard manufacturing was evaluated in this study. Experimental boards were made with softwood particles and the new adhesive under different combinations of processing parameters. Some properties of the boards were measured and compared to those of boards made with a urea-formaldehyde (UF) adhesive and softwood particles from the same source. The influence of density was minimized by keeping it relatively constant for all combinations of processing parameters. It was found that the new adhesive requires a higher pH and longer time for curing, compared to UF. For boards made with similar resin content, PFA/UF boards exhibited lower internal bond than UF boards. The PFA/UF boards did show promise for boards having better moisture resistance. As expected, within the range of press time studied (8 to 14 min.), quality of PFA/UF boards improved with increased press time. In the case of resin content, the increase in internal bond and the decrease in thickness swelling and water absorption appeared to be approximately linearly related to resin content within the range of 9 to 18 percent resin content. Overall, further improvements are required if the PFA/UF adhesive is to be competitive with other conventional adhesives