Comparison of thermal curing behavior of liquid and solid urea-formaldehyde resins with different formaldehyde/urea mole ratios

Arif Nuryawan, Byung Dae Park, Adya P. Singh

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38 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study was undertaken to compare thermal cure kinetics of urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins, in both liquid and solid forms as a function of formaldehyde/urea (F/U) mole ratio, using multi-heating rate methods of differential scanning calorimetry. The requirement of peak temperature (T p ), heat of reaction (ΔH) and activation energy (E) for the cure of four F/U mole ratio UF resins (1.6, 1.4, 1.2 and 1.0) was investigated. Both types of UF resins showed a single T p , which ranged from 75 to 118°C for liquid resins, and from 240 to 275°C for solid resins. As the F/U mole ratio decreased, T p values increased for both liquid and solid resins. ΔH values of solid resins were much greater than those of liquid resins, indicating a greater energy requirement for the cure of solid resins. The ΔH value of liquid UF resins increased with decreasing in F/U mole ratio whereas it was opposite for solid resins, with much variation. The activation energy (E a ) values calculated by Kissinger method were greater for solid UF resins than for liquid resins. The activation energy (E α ) values calculated by isoconversional method which showed that UF resins in liquid or solid state at F/U mole ratio of 1.6 followed a multi-step reaction in their cure kinetics. These results demonstrated that thermal curing behavior of solid UF resin differed greatly from that of liquid resins, because of a greater branched network structure in the former.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)397-404
Number of pages8
JournalJournal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry
Volume118
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Oct 2014

Keywords

  • Activation energy
  • Cure kinetics
  • Formaldehyde/urea mole ratio
  • Heat of reaction
  • Peak temperature
  • Urea-formaldehyde resin

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