Phenol–formaldehyde‐type resins made from phenol‐liquefied wood for the bonding of particleboard

Liquefaction of southern pine wood in phenol in 30–40 : 70–60 weight ratios resulted in homogeneous liquefied materials, which were directly used to synthesize phenol–formaldehyde (PF)‐type resins. The synthesized resins showed good physical and handling properties: low viscosity, stability for storage and transportation, and resin applicable by a common sprayer. Particleboard panels bonded with the synthesized resins showed promising physical properties and significantly lower formaldehyde emission values than those bonded with the urea–formaldehyde resin control. One deficiency observed for the synthesized resins was lower internal bond values, which might be overcome the use of a hot‐stacking procedure. Overall, the process of wood liquefaction with limited amounts of phenol as a solvent was shown to have the potential of providing practical, low‐cost PF‐type resins with very low formaldehyde emission potentials. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009