Study of hybrid isocyanate and high-mono-hydroxymethyl urea content urea-formaldehyde resins

Based on the difference in the reaction rate of different groups of urea-formaldehyde resins and isocyanate resins, this study designed two different urea-formaldehyde resins: a normal urea-formaldehyde resin (UF) and one with high mono-hydroxymethylurea content (UF*) to react with polymeric methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (pMDI) resin. The difference in mono- and di-hydroxymethyl urea content between UF and UF* resins was analyzed by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, and results showed that the mono-hydroxymethyl urea content of the UF* resin was much higher than that of the conventional UF resin. The fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR) analysis of differences between UF* and UF resin showed that the UF* process did not change the main structure of the conventional urea formaldehyde resin. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) analysis showed that the curing temperature of the hybrid UF*-pMDI resin was reduced 27.3°C compared to that of the UF-pMDI resin. When these hybrid resins were used to bond plywood respectively, test results showed that the UF*-pMDI resin improved the dry and wet bonding strength by 2.6% and 3.9%, respectively, compared with the UF-pMDI resin under the condition of hot pressing time (3 min) and temperature (140°C), meeting the requirement of Chinese standard of GB/T 9846–2015 for Class III board. This study provides a new path for further improving the performance and design of hybrid resins based on isocyanate and urea-formaldehyde resin.