Synchrotron-based X-ray Fluorescence Microscopy in Conjunction with Nanoindentation to Study Molecular-Scale Interactions of Phenol-Formaldehyde in Wood Cell Walls
Understanding and controlling molecular-scale interactions between adhesives and wood polymers are critical to accelerate the development of improved adhesives for advanced wood-based materials. The submicrometer resolution of synchrotron-based X-ray fluorescence microscopy (XFM) was found capable of mapping and quantifying infiltration of Br-labeled phenolformaldehyde (BrPF) into wood cell walls. Cell wall infiltration of five BrPF adhesives with different average molecular weights (MWs) was mapped. Nanoindentation on the same cell walls was performed to assess the effects of BrPF infiltration on cell wall hygromechanical properties. For the same amount of weight uptake, lower MW BrPF adhesives were found to be more effective at decreasing moisture-induced mechanical softening. This greater effectiveness of lower MW phenolic adhesives likely resulted from their ability to more intimately associate with water sorption sites in the wood polymers. Evidence also suggests that a BrPF interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) formed within the wood polymers, which might also decrease moisture sorption by mechanically restraining wood polymers during swelling.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- U.S. Department of Agriculture - Forest Service; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 1248044
- Journal Information:
- ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 7, Issue 12; ISSN 1944-8244
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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