Shear Strength and Microscopic Characterization of a Bamboo Bonding Interface with Phenol Formaldehyde Resins Modified with Larch Thanaka and Urea
The aim of this study was to understand the microscopic characteristics of the bamboo bonding interface with phenol formaldehyde resin modified with larch thanaka and urea (PTUF) and its effect on the shear strength of two-ply bamboo laminated lumber. Bleached and carbonized bamboo strips were used, and two assembly patterns (outer-to-outer and inner-to-inner) were adopted to make two-ply bamboo laminated lumber with PTUF. The microstructure of the bonding interface and the bond-line thickness were investigated using a scanning electron microscope. The average depth and effective depth of PTUF on bamboo surfaces were evaluated by fluorescent microscopy characterization. The shear strength of two-ply bamboo laminated lumber was also examined. The results revealed a shallow depth of penetration of PTUF into the bamboo surface that was distributed primarily in the broken cell cavities formed during preparation, as well as between the cell walls. When the assembly pattern was inner-to-inner, the depth of penetration and bond-line thickness were higher, but the shear strength was lower than that of the outer-to-outer pattern. The carbonized bamboo laminated lumber provided a greater resin penetration and bond-line thickness, but lower shear strength, than the bleached bamboo laminated lumber.
Surfactant-Induced Reconfiguration of Urea-Formaldehyde Resins Enables Improved Surface Properties and Gluability of Bamboo
The high-efficiency development and utilization of bamboo resources can greatly alleviate the current shortage of wood and promote the neutralization of CO2. However, the wide application of bamboo-derived products is largely limited by their unideal surface properties with adhesive as well as poor gluability. Herein, a facile strategy using the surfactant-induced reconfiguration of urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins was proposed to enhance the interface with bamboo and significantly improve its gluability. Specifically, through the coupling of a variety of surfactants, the viscosity and surface tension of the UF resins were properly regulated. Therefore, the resultant surfactant reconfigured UF resin showed much-improved wettability and spreading performance to the surface of both bamboo green and bamboo yellow. Specifically, the contact angle (CA) values of the bamboo green and bamboo yellow decreased from 79.6° to 30.5° and from 57.5° to 28.2°, respectively, with the corresponding resin spreading area increasing from 0.2 mm2 to 7.6 mm2 and from 0.1 mm2 to 5.6 mm2. Moreover, our reconfigured UF resin can reduce the amount of glue spread applied to bond the laminated commercial bamboo veneer products to 60 g m−2, while the products prepared by the initial UF resin are unable to meet the requirements of the test standard, suggesting that this facile method is an effective way to decrease the application of petroleum-based resins and production costs. More broadly, this surfactant reconfigured strategy can also be performed to regulate the wettability between UF resin and other materials (such as polypropylene board and tinplate), expanding the application fields of UF resin.
A New Vacuum Pressure Infiltration CFRP Method and Preparation Experimental Study of Composite
In order to prepare a carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer composite (CFRP) with ideal microstructure and properties, a new vacuum pressure infiltration CFRP method is proposed based on an analysis of existing CFRP preparation process methods. Research on composite material preparation systems was carried out by using this new method principle. The system mainly includes a fiber pre-forming module, a vacuum heating infiltration module, a hot-press curing molding module, and a data acquisition control module. Under the conditions of natural curing at 0 MPa + 6 h + 25 °C, vacuum heating curing at –0.05 MPa + 30 min + 80 °C, and hot-press curing at 0.7 MPa + 5 min + 50 °C, a two-dimensional (2D) CFRP with excellent microstructure and properties was successfully prepared. Observing the microstructure of the prepared composite material, it can be found that the inside of the composite material was sufficiently and uniformly infiltrated, and common preparation defects such as holes and delamination were effectively controlled. Through the performance test, the bending strength of the material reached 790 MPa.