Reactivity of Hydroxymethylated Resorcinol Coupling Agent as it Affects Durability of Epoxy Bonds to Douglas-fir

Authors

  • Charles B. Vick
  • Alfred W. Christiansen
  • E. Arnold Okkonen

Keywords:

Hydroxymethylated resorcinol coupling agent, epoxy adhesive, Douglas-fir, heat of reaction, molecular-size distribution, resistance to delamination

Abstract

Epoxy adhesives develop strong bonds to wood, but they lack the structural durability to withstand the severe stresses from repeated water soaking and drying. Research at the Forest Products Laboratory led to a discovery that hydroxymethylated resorcinol (HMR) physicochemically couples to both epoxy adhesive and lignocellulosics of wood to produce bonds that are extraordinarily resistant to dclamination. The HMR coupling agent is quite reactive at room temperatures; therefore, the length of its reaction time, or the time between preparing the solution and applying it to the wood surface, strongly influences the durability of adhesion. The experiments in this study defined the optimum range of reaction time when adhesion is maximum for epoxy bonds to HMR-primed Douglas-fir. Heats of reaction (by differential scanning calorimetry), molecular-size distribution (by gel permeation chro-matography), and chemical structures of HMR (by carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance spectros-copy) are described for this range of optimum reaction times.

References

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Published

2007-06-19

Issue

Number 3 / July 1998

Section

Research Contributions

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