Natural Tannins as New Cross-Linking Materials for Soy-Based Adhesives

Human health problems and formaldehyde emission from wood-based composites are some of the major drawbacks of the traditional synthetic adhesives such as urea formaldehyde resins. There have been many attempts to decrease formaldehyde emission and replace urea formaldehyde resins with bio-based adhesives for wood-based composites. Because of some weakness in soy-based adhesive, chemicals have been used as modifiers. Modified soy-based adhesives without any formaldehyde have been successfully used to prepare wood panels. To achieve this, different synthetic cross-linking chemicals such as phenol formaldehyde resins and polyamidoamine-epichlorohydrin were used. However, in reality, what we need are totally green adhesives that use natural materials. In our previous research work, the use of tannins in combination with soy-based adhesives to make wood composites was investigated. Thus, in this research work, the feasibility of using three types of natural tannins (quebracho, mimosa and chestnut tannins) as cross-linking materials for soy adhesive was studied. The chemical bond formation and adhesion behaviors of tannin-modified soy adhesives were also investigated by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-ToF-MS) and thermo-mechanical analysis (TMA). The results showed that at ambient temperature, both ionic and covalent bonds formed between tannin constituents and amino acids; however, at higher temperature, covalent bonds are largely predominate. Based on the results obtained from the thermo-mechanical analysis, the modulus of elasticity (MOE) of soy adhesive is increased by adding tannins to its formulation. In addition, the chemical bond formation was proved by MALDI-ToF-MS.