Investigation of the stability of the modified urea-formaldehyde resin

Abstract

Commercial KFMT-15 type urea-formaldehyde resin (UF) was modified with an addition of 4 wt. % of various alcohols (methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, butanol). Changes of pH, relative viscosity, hot gelation time and free formaldehyde content during storage (up to 4 months) were investigated. Chemical interpretation of the results obtained has been proposed. It was found that isopropanol is the most advantageous modifier - from the point of view of UF useful properties (especially emission of formaldehyde).