Effects of wheat flour levels on the thermal curing behavior of Urea–Formaldehyde and Phenol–Formaldehyde resins

Urea–formaldehyde (UF) and phenol–formaldehyde (PF) resins are the most prevalent adhesives in the manufacturing of wood composites, and they are cured by hot pressing to build a three-dimensional network structure in the composites. UF and PF resins are typically formulated with organic fillers like wheat flour to control viscosity and reduce costs in the commercial production of plywood. Although this formulation is well established, research on the effect of filler on the curing behavior of UF and PF resins has been insufficient. Therefore, this study used differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to examine the influence of wheat flour as a filler in varying amounts on the thermal curing behavior of UF and PF resins. The results demonstrated that the viscosity and solid content of the UF and PF resins increased as the filler amount increased. In contrast, the gelation time, which reflected the curing speed of the resins, decreased as the filler content increased. Similarly, DSC results demonstrated that with increased filler amounts, the curing reaction of UF resins accelerated, as evidenced by a decrease in the apparent activation energy (E_a) determined using the Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose and Vyazovkin methods. However, in the case of PF resins, the average E_a increased and subsequently declined when 10% and 20% fillers were added. This demonstrated the complicated interaction between wheat flour and resins, particularly PF resins. Furthermore, the isothermal DSC curves reveal that the highest exothermic peaks of UF resins are observed at different isothermal temperatures as the filler amount increases. In contrast, PF resins maintain an isothermal temperature for the highest exothermic peaks across all filler levels. In addition, FTIR analysis suggested that wheat flour might contribute to the curing reaction of UF and PF resins.