Hydrolytic stability of cured urea-melamine-formaldehyde resins depending on hydrolysis conditions and hardener types

As a part of abating the formaldehyde emission of amino resin-bonded wood-based composite panels, this study was conducted to investigate hydrolytic stability of urea-melamine-formaldehyde (UMF) resin depending on various hydrolysis conditions and hardener types. Commercial UMF resin was cured and ground into a powdered form, and then hydrolyzed with hydrochloric acid. After the acid hydrolysis, the concentration of liberated formaldehyde in the hydrolyzed solution and mass loss of the cured UMF resins were determined to compare their hydrolytic stability. The hydrolysis of cured UMF resin increased with an increase in the acid concentration, time, and temperature and with a decrease in the smaller particle size. An optimum hydrolysis condition for the cured UMF resins was determined as 50°C, 90 minutes, 1.0 M hydrochloric acid and 250 μm particle size. Hydrolysis of the UMF resin cured with different hardener types showed different degrees of the hydrolytic stability of cured UMF resins with a descending order of aluminum sulfate, ammonium chloride, and ammonium sulfate. The hydrolytic stability also decreased as the addition level of ammonium chloride increased. These results indicated that hardener types and level also had an impact on the hydrolytic stability of cured UMF resins.