Water-resistant soybean adhesive for wood binder employing combinations of caustic degradation, nano-modification, and chemical crosslinking

Abstract

In an attempt to develop a soybean-protein wood adhesive with improved water resistance and good technical applicability, soybean protein was first degraded under strong alkali conditions and then subjected to chemical crosslinking combined with nano-modification. Results of plywood evaluation, GPC analysis, and XRD determination indicated that a soybean-protein adhesive that could bear 28h boiling-dry cycled treatment according to standard JIS K6806-2003. The water-resistance improvement was attributed to both the chemical crosslinking of the degraded soybean protein (DSP) by MDI and the nano-modification of DSP by intercalated or exfoliated montmorillonite (MMT). Caustic degradation improved the technical applicability of the DSP adhesive by sharply reducing the viscosity of high-content protein solution. MMT nano-modification can obviously prolong the pot lives of MDI-modified DSP adhesives but slightly decrease their dry bond strength.