Thermally curable aqueous acrylic resins – a new class of duroplastic binders for wood and natural fibers

A new, thermally curable, aqueous acrylic resin is introduced as duroplastic binder for automotive trim parts. This one-component resin has good storage stability and crosslinks upon heating to 180–220°C. Wood fibers are impregnated with the resin using the blow-line technique and can be further processed to fiber mats. With other natural fibers like flax, hemp or sisal, preformed mats are impregnated with the acrylic resin solution. Both methods give prebound fiber mats with good storage stability and thermoplastic deformability. During a final hot press step, the desired shapes are formed and the resin is crosslinked. Composite parts bound with the new acrylic resin show high stiffness and strength and meet the ecological requirements of the automotive industry.