Structure–property relationships in one-component polyurethane adhesives for wood: Sensitivity to low moisture content

Development and Characterisation of Joints with Novel Densified and Wood/Cork Composite Substrates

The automotive industry, driven by the desire to decrease the environmental impact of vehicles, is permanently seeking to develop lightweight structural components, which lead to lower gas emissions and energy consumption, reducing their carbon footprint. In parallel, adopting innovative, constructive solutions, which dispense non-recyclable and energy-intensive materials, can increase the footprint reduction. Thus, an increase in the use of renewable materials for structural applications, including wood and its by-products, has been observed over the last few decades. Furthermore, composite materials are often joined by using petroleum-based synthetic adhesives, which should be progressively replaced by eco-friendly bio-adhesives. In this study, novel densified wood and wood/cork composites, joined with a bio-adhesive, are proposed and characterised. The densification of the wood aims to enhance the mechanical properties of the natural material, with the purpose of improving the energy absorption of the wood/bio-adhesive joint. To mitigate delamination and the brittle behaviour of wood/cork agglomerates were introduced between the wood substrate and the bio-adhesive. Different configurations of single lap joints (SLJ) were manufactured to study the effect of the overlap length and loading rate on the performance of the joints, both in terms of failure load and energy absorption. Afterward, the joints were numerically simulated. The densification process was successful, although it represents an additional challenge in terms of surface flatness, because the bio-adhesive requires zero bondline thickness. The increase of the overlap had a positive impact on the energy absorption of the joint, and the addition of cork resulted in a more consistent failure mode and higher strain to failure. The numerical models developed had a good correlation with the experimental results.

Evaluating fundamental position-dependent differences in wood cell wall adhesion using nanoindentation

Spruce wood specimens were bonded with one-component polyurethane (PUR) and urea-formaldehyde (UF) adhesive, respectively. The adhesion of the adhesives to the wood cell wall was evaluated at two different locations by means of a new micromechanical assay based on nanoindentation. One location tested corresponded to the interface between the adhesive and the natural inner cell wall surface of the secondary cell wall layer 3 (S3), whereas the second location corresponded to the interface between the adhesive and the freshly cut secondary cell wall layer 2 (S2). Overall, a trend towards reduced cell wall adhesion was found for PUR compared to UF. Position-resolved examination revealed excellent adhesion of UF to freshly cut cell walls (S2) but significantly diminished adhesion to the inner cell wall surface (S3). In contrast, PUR showed better adhesion to the inner cell wall surface and less adhesion to freshly cut cell walls. Atomic force microscopy revealed a less polar character for the inner cell wall surface (S3) compared to freshly cut cell walls (S2). It is proposed that differences in the polarity of the used adhesives and the surface chemistry of the two cell wall surfaces examined account for the observed trends.