Effect of alkylresorcinols on curing behaviour of phenol-formaldehyde resol resin

Thermal behaviour of cure-accelerated phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resins was studied using the addition of commercial mixture of water soluble oil shale alkylresorcinols (AR) to PF resin, 5-MR being as model compound. The acceleration effect of AR is based on the promotion of condensation of resin methylol groups and subsequent reaction of released formaldehyde with AR. Commercial PF resins SFŽ-3013VL and SFŽ-3014 from the Estonian factory VKG Resins have been used. The chemical structure of resins was characterised by ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. TG-DTA analysis was carried out using labsys^TM instrument Setaram. By TG-DTA measurements, the shift of exothermic and endothermic peaks and the changes of mass loss rate in the ranges of 1.5–10 g AR/100 g PF resin were studied. The effect of AR on the curing behaviour of PF resins was also followed by gel time. Testing of the plywood when using PF resin with 5 mass% of AR shows that the press time could be reduced by about 15%.     

Thermal degradation of lignin–phenol–formaldehyde and phenol–formaldehyde resol resins

Resol resins are used in many industrial applications as adhesives and coatings, but few studies have examined their thermal degradation. In this work, the thermal stability and thermal degradation kinetics of phenol–formaldehyde (PF) and lignin–phenol–formaldehyde (LPF) resol resins were studied using thermogravimetric analysis (TG) in air and nitrogen atmospheres in order to understand the steps of degradation and to improve their stabilities in industrial applications. The thermal stability of samples was estimated by measuring the degradation temperature (T _d), which was calculated according to the maximum reaction rate criterion. In addition, the ash content was determined at 800 °C in order to compare the thermal stability of the resol resin samples. The results indicate that 30 wt% ammonium lignin sulfonate (lignin derivative) as filler in the formulation of LPF resin improves the thermal stability in comparison with PF commercial resin. The activation energies of degradation of two resol resins show a difference in dependence on mass loss, which allows these resins to be distinguished. In addition, the structural changes of both resins during thermal degradation were studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), with the results indicating that PF resin collapses at 300 °C whereas the LPF resin collapses at 500 °C.     

A 13C NMR study of the methylol derivatives of 2,4′‐ and 4,4′‐dihydroxydiphenylmethanes found in resol phenol–formaldehyde resins

A total of 13 of the 16 possible methylol derivatives of 2,4′‐ and 4,4′‐dihydroxydiphenylmethane have been synthesized, isolated, and identified. These compounds are found as intermediates in the cure process of resol phenol–formaldehyde (PF) resins. Analysis of the ¹³C NMR spectra (in acetone‐d₆) of these compounds provided a way to evaluate the seven methylolphenol ring types (methylol derivatives of 2‐hydroxyphenyl and 4‐hydroxyphenyl rings) found in typical resol PF resins using the ipso carbon region from 150 to 160 ppm. A simple diagnostic test was developed using the chemical shift values of the methylol methylene carbon atoms to identify the presence of intermediates containing either a 2‐hydroxyphenyl or a 4‐hydroxyphenyl ring. Using these data it is now possible to analyze the major components in extracted prepreg PF resins. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Changes in curing behaviour of aminoresins during storage

Summary The curing behaviour of commercial UF and MUF resins, stored at room temperature nearly up to gelation, is studied by simultaneous TG-DTA technique and structural changes of resins are also followed during aging. On the basis of ¹³C NMR spectra, the main chemical reaction during UF resin storage is the formation of methylenes and dimethylene ethers linked to secondary amino groups. Aging of resins results in a decrease of cure rate which is related to lower concentration of active functional groups and decrease in molecular mobility. On DTA curve, the resin with higher content of methylol groups reveals the curing exotherm earlier. With decreasing methylol content during storage, the peak maximum of exotherm is shifted to higher temperature value. Advanced polycondensation and sedimentation processes during storage produce partly locked in macromolecule structure water, and the water evaporation endotherm on DTA curve shifts to considerably higher temperature. The aged MUF resins are chemically less changed than UF resins and the aging process mainly involves noncovalent network formation due to complex molecular structure.     

Thermal behavior of modified urea–formaldehyde resins

The thermal stability of pure urea–formaldehyde resin (PR) and modified urea–formaldehyde (UF) resins with hexamethylenetetramine-HMTA (Resin 1), melamine-M (Resin 2), and ethylene urea (EU, Resin 3) including nano-SiO₂ was investigated by non-isothermal thermo-gravimetric analysis (TG), differential thermal gravimetry (DTG), and differential thermal analysis (DTA) supported by data from IR spectroscopy. Possibility of combining inorganic filler in a form of silicon dioxide with UF resins was found investigated and percentage of free formaldehyde was determined. The shift of DTG peaks to a high temperature indicates the increase of thermal stability of modified UF resin with EU (Resin 3) which is confirmed by data obtained from the FTIR study. The minimum percentage (6%) of free formaldehyde was obtained in Resin 3.     

Adsorption and DSC study of mineral–carbon sorbents obtained from coal tar pitch–polymer compositions

The purpose of this study was to determine the possibility of producing hydrophobic mesoporous mineral–carbon sorbents from aluminum hydroxide and compositions of coal tar pitch–polymers on carbonization at 600 °C in a nitrogen atmosphere. Blends of the products of co-precipitation of aluminum hydroxide in the carbonaceous substances medium were subjected to carbonization process. The extent of porous structure development was evaluated using low temperature nitrogen adsorption, adsorption of benzene vapors, and adsorption of iodine from aqueous solution. The highest value of BET surface area of about 370 m²/g was achieved for the carbonization product obtained from co-precipitated raw components with 10 wt% compositions coal tar pitch–polymer. These materials demonstrated high capacity to reduce organic pollutions from sewage. Pitch–polymer composition containing poly(ethylene terephthalate) or phenol–formaldehyde resin was studied by the means of DSC method in order to determine the high-temperature transformations taking place under the conditions of carbonization. DSC method enables to determine i.a. the decomposition temperatures of carbonizates produced from pitch–polymer compositions and the evaluation of their sorption abilities. The additive of poly(ethylene terephthalate) and phenol–formaldehyde resin caused the increase of thermal resistance of the pitch expressed by higher decomposition temperatures.     

Urea-formaldehyde resins. III. Constitutional characterization by 13C fourier transform NMR spectroscopy

¹³C Fourier transform NMR has been used to characterize a random chemical structure of ureaformaldehyde resins. By comparison of ¹³C chemical shifts with synthesized standard derivatives from urea and formaldehyde the analysis of reacted formaldehyde was completed. In a ¹³C spectrum of resin each signal due to reacted formaldehyde (e.g., methylol group, methylene group, and dimethylene ether group) was isolated. Measurement of a ¹³C spectrum of resin by the gated decoupling of proton without nuclear Overhauser effect made a quantitative analysis of reacted formaldehyde possible. In this quantitative analysis a ¹³C quantity of carbonyl groups in urea residue can be directly compared with that of each combined formaldehyde.     

Thermal behaviour of melamine-modified urea–formaldehyde resins

Thermal behaviour of industrial UF resins modified by low level of melamine was followed by TG-DTA technique on the labsys ^TM instrument Setaram together with the ¹³C NMR analysis of resin structure and testing boards in current production at Estonian particleboard factory Pärnu Plaaditehas AS. DTA curve of UF resin which has been cocondensed during synthesis with even low level of melamine shows the shift of condensation exotherm and water evaporation endotherm to considerable higher temperatures. The effect of melamine monomer introduced to UF resin just before curing was compared. The effect of addition of urea as formaldehyde scavenger was studied.     

Transformation of dynamic DSC results into isothermal data for the curing kinetics study of the resol resins

Kinetics of thermosetting polymers curing is difficult to study by isothermal methods based on the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique. The difficulty is due to the low sensitivity of the equipment for total reaction heat measurements during high temperature process. The aim of this paper is to display the equivalence between a dynamic model, the Ozawa method, and an isothermal isoconversional fit, which allows predicting the isothermal behavior of the resol resins cure through dynamic runs by DSC. In this work, lignin–phenol–formaldehyde and commercial phenol–formaldehyde resol resins were employed. In addition, the isothermal kinetic parameters for both resins were performed by means of transformation of the data obtained from the dynamic Ozawa method.     

Effect of composition,solvent exchange liquid and drying method on the porous structure of phenol–formaldehyde gels

Organic gels have been synthesized by sol–gel polycondensation of phenol (P) and formaldehyde (F) catalyzed by sodium carbonate (C). The effect of synthesis parameters such as phenol/catalyst ratio (P/C), solvent exchange liquid and drying method, on the porous structure of the gels have been investigated. The total and mesopore volumes of the PF gels increased with increasing P/C ratio in the range of P/C ≤ 8, after this both properties started to decrease with P/C ratio for P/C > 8 and the gel with P/C = 8 showed the highest total and mesopore volumes of 1.281 and 1.279 cm³ g⁻¹ respectively. The gels prepared by freeze drying possessed significantly higher porosities than the vacuum dried gels. The pore volume and average pore diameter of the freeze dried gels were significantly higher than those of the vacuum dried gels. T-butanol emerged as the preferred solvent for the removal of water from the PF hydrogel prior to drying, as significantly higher pore volumes and specific surface areas were obtained in the corresponding dried gels. The results showed that freeze drying with t-butanol and lower P/C ratios were favourable conditions for the synthesis of highly mesoporous phenol–formaldehyde gels.     

Curing of urea-formaldehyde resins on awood substrate

TG-DTA analysis method was used to study the curing behaviour of urea-formaldehyde (UF) adhesive resins in the presence of a wood substrate. The cure process was followed using a Setaram labsys^TM instrument in flowing nitrogen atmosphere by varying the ratio of resin and wood. Resin cure was catalysed with 2% of NH₄Cl. Curing tests were performed in the open standard platinum crucibles and in the sealed glass capsules. To characterise the reactivity of curing system, the peak temperatures in DTA curve and the mass loss values in TG curve were taken as the apparent indices. The main attention was paid to phenomena which actually take place in curing of UF resins during manufacturing of particleboards. Reactivity of the curing system depends mostly on methylol content of resin and can be adequetly evaluated by the maximum temperature of exothermic peak. The wood substrate has a substantial influence on the resin and water diffusion in system causing the changes in water/resin separation and water evaporation conditions. The water movement in curing adhesive joint was a confusing parameter in determining the peak positions. The rate of mass loss on a wood substrate is higher as compared to curing UF resin alone.     

Effect of three boron flame retardants on thermal curing behavior of urea formaldehyde resin

The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of three kinds of flame retardant (FR), boric acid, zinc borate, and borax on the thermal curing behavior of urea–formaldehyde (UF) resin. Both pH value and gel time were measured to study the curing characters of the UF resin with different loading levels of FR. In addition, differential thermal analysis was also used to obtain kinetic analyses parameter. The results showed that boric acid decreased pH value of UF resin, and reduced gel time of the UF resin. There are no significant changes of the UF resin curing characters with different loading levels of FR. The activation energies for curing reaction of UF resins in the presence of boric acid, zinc borate, and borax, were 84.37, 84.41, and 118.4 kJ/mol, respectively, higher than that of the control one (75.38 kJ/mol). All FRs showed adverse effect on the curing behavior of the UF resin.     

Melamine–formaldehyde resins: Constitutional characterization by fourier transform 13C-NMR spectroscopy

The random chemical structures of melamine–formaldehyde resins, including methylated melamine–formaldehyde resins and urea–melamine formaldehyde resins, were investigated by ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy (Fourier transform). All the combined formaldehydes, methylol and methyl ether groups, methylene structures, and dimethylene ether structures were assigned. A ¹³C chemical shift of methylene carbon occurred by substitution of other constituents of the methylene group for a proton of the adjacent monosubstituted nitrogen atom, as shown in a ¹³C-NMR spectrum of urea–formaldehyde resins. It was found that the chemical shift of each corresponding carbon of both melamine resins and urea–melamine resins was almost superimposed with that of urea resins.     

Examination of selected synthesis parameters for typical wood adhesive‐type urea–formaldehyde resins by 13C NMR spectroscopy. I

Selected synthesis parameters of typical wood adhesive‐type urea–formaldehyde (UF) resins were examined using the ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. The monomeric hydroxymethylureas and methylene–ether derivatives formed in the initial alkaline reaction polymerize in the subsequent acidic reaction by forming methylene bonds and cleaving some hydroxymethyl groups as formaldehyde. For typical resin syntheses at F/U ratio of 2.10, the resulting UF polymer is found to be a number‐averaged pentamer having 3.25 polymer chain branches with about 80% of chain ends bonded to hydroxymethyl groups and the rest being free amide groups. When the second urea is added during the cooling period, about 67% of hydroxymethyl groups cleave from the UF polymeric components and the freed formaldehyde reacts with second urea to form monomeric hydroxymethylureas. This hydroxymethyl group move is suppressed when the second urea is added at low temperatures, suggesting that wood adhesive‐type UF resins are composed of monomeric and polymeric UF components having hydroxymethyl functional groups in varying proportions. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 37: 995–1007, 1999     

Phenolic resins bearing maleimide groups: Synthesis and characterization

Novel phenolic novolac resins, bearing maleimide groups and capable of undergoing curing principally through the addition polymerization of these groups, were synthesized by the polymerization of a mixture of phenol and N‐(4‐hydroxy phenyl)maleimide (HPM) with formaldehyde in the presence of an acid catalyst. The polymerization conditions were optimized to get gel‐free resins. The resins were characterized by chemical, spectral, and thermal analyses. Differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic mechanical analysis revealed an unexpected two‐stage curing for these systems. Although the cure at around 275°C was attributable to the addition polymerization reaction of the maleimide groups, the exotherm at around 150 to 170°C was ascribed to the condensation reaction of the methylol groups formed in minor quantities on the phenyl ring of HPM. Polymerization studies of non‐hydroxy‐functional N‐phenyl maleimides revealed that the phenyl groups of these molecules were activated toward an electrophilic substitution reaction by the protonated methylol intermediates formed by the acid‐catalyzed reaction of phenol and formaldehyde. On a comparative scale, HPM was less reactive than phenol toward formaldehyde. The presence of the phenolic group on N‐phenyl maleimide was not needed for its copolymerization with phenol and formaldehyde. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci A: Polym Chem 38: 641–652, 2000     

TG-DTA study of melamine-urea-formaldehyde resins

The thermal behaviour of MUF resins from different suppliers with different content of melamine was studied, along with the ¹³C NMR spectroscopic analysis of resin structure and the testing of particleboards in current production at Estonian PB factory Pärnu Plaaditehas AS. The chemical structure of resins from DMSO-d₆ solutions was analysed by ¹³C NMR spectroscopy on a Bruker AMX500 NMR spectrometer. The melamine level in different MUF resins is compared by the ratios of carbonyl carbon of urea and triazine carbon of melamine in ¹³C NMR spectra. Curing behaviour of MUF resins was studied by stimultaneous TG-DTA techniques on the Labsys? instrument Setaram. The shape of DTA curves characterisises the resin synthesis procedure by the extent of polymerisation of UF and MF components and is in accordance with structural data.     

On the structure and cure acceleration of phenol-urea-formaldehyde resins with different catalysts

Phenol-urea-formaldehyde (PUF) resins with different catalysts [calcium oxide (CaO), sodium carbonate (Na₂CO₃), zinc oxide (ZnO), and magnesium oxide (MgO)] were prepared to accelerate the cure of the resin at low temperature. The cure-acceleration effects of catalysts on chemical structure and cure characteristics of PUF resins were investigated by using both liquid ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The liquid ¹³C NMR analysis indicated that the catalyst such as CaO seemed to present a retarded effect on the polycondensation reaction of phenolic components with urea units, while the Na₂CO₃ appeared to promote the self-condensation reaction of phenolic methylol groups at para position toward the formation of para-para methylene linkage. Both ZnO and MgO in PUF resins promoted self-condensation reaction of para methylol groups and condensation reaction of ortho methylol groups with para methylol groups. The catalysts such as Na₂CO₃, ZnO, and MgO can make PUF resins cure at a low temperature. Among these catalysts, the MgO had the most significant accelerating effect on polycondensation and cure reaction of PUF resin.     

Structural characteristics of p‐t‐Octylphenol formaldehyde resole resins using molecular simulation

p‐t‐Octylphenol formaldehyde resole resins have two linkage types of methylene‐ and dimethylene ether‐linkages and have three terminal types of hydrogen, methylol, and o‐methylene quinone. Variation of structural characteristics of the resins due to different types of linkages and terminals were studied using molecular dynamics and molecular mechanics. The structural characteristics of the methylene‐bridged resins were intramolecular hydrogen bonds between hydroxyl groups of the adjacent p‐t‐octylphenols. In the dimethylene ether‐bridged resin, the intramolecular hydrogen bonds between oxygen atoms of the dimethylene ether‐linkages and hydroxyl groups of the neighboring phenolic units were found. For the resins with both methylol terminals, one of both terminals of the resins was hidden at the center of the molecule when the resin size is large. The number of hydrogen bonds in the resins with the methylol terminal was larger than for the resins with the o‐methylene quinone terminal. Variation of the structural characteristics of the resins by dehydration of the terminal methylol was discussed. Using the calculated results, dissociation of the dimethylene ether linkage and crosslinking reaction of rubber chains by the resin were explained. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

酸性条件下脲醛树脂中不稳定结构的研究

通过较强酸性介质中尿素和甲醛的反应, 在不同条件下合成了透明的脲醛树脂溶液, 利用液体13C NMR研究了甲醛与尿素摩尔比对最终树脂中不稳定结构的影响.     

Effect of irradiation on AMP based resins for cesium separation from HNO3 feed solutions: batch and column studies

Three different resins containing ammonium molybdophosphate (AMP), viz. PMMA (polymethylmethacrylate) resin, composite AMP resin and ALIX (a bisphenol based resin), were evaluated for their irradiation stability. The studies included batch as well as column studies and were carried out for cesium uptake behaviour at 3 M acidity. The resin beads were irradiated to varying dose viz., 0 MRad, 10 MRad, 20 MRad, 50 MRad and 100 MRad. The time taken to attain equilibrium was rather long and about 2–5 h were found to be required for attaining equilibrium in batch studies. Batch Cs(I) uptake studies revealed no significant effect on the K _d values in case of the PMMA resin while in case of the composite resin and ALIX resin, a decrease in the K _d was observed as a function of irradiation dose. The resin capacity indicated contrasting behaviour with irradiation dose for the resins. Column runs have been carried out for the uptake of radio cesium using both unirradiated and irradiated resins using feed solutions containing 3 MHNO₃. The loading capacities of the resins were found to be proportional to their Cs loading capacities observed in batch studies. Study revealed that the composite AMP had the maximum and PMMA has the least loading capacity. Results of these studies show that these AMP based resins can be used for cesium separation from acidic nuclear waste.