Wood flour (WF) and talc-filled polylactic acid (PLA) composites are prepared by melt compounding and injection molding. The effects of filler loading and silane treatment, the thermal and mechanical properties of the composites are studied. Loading of WF and WF/talc mixture into neat PLA results in a small decrease in the glass transition and crystalline temperatures of the composites. The use of WF, talc and silane in the composites causes successively larger decreased in the composite crystallinity. The addition of talc and silane to PLA/WF composites improved the tensile modulus. The tensile strength of the composites decreases slightly with the addition of talc, but it considerably improves with the use of 1 wt% silane. Morphological analysis shows improved interfacial bonding with silane treatment for the composites.

This work undertook to prepare nanofibers of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) composite by electrospinning, and characterize the electrospun composite nanofibers. Different contents of CNFs isolated from hardwood bleached kraft pulp (HW-BKP) by 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxy radical (TEMPO)-mediated oxidation were suspended in aqueous polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) solution, and then electrospun into CNF/PVA composite nanofibers. The morphology and dimension of CNFs were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), which revealed that CNFs were fibrillated form with the diameter of about 7.07 ± 0.99 nm. Morphology of the electrospun nanofiber observed by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) showed that uniform CNF/PVA composite nanofibers were manufactured at 1~3% CNF contents while many beads were observed at 5% CNF level. Both the viscosity of CNF/PVA solution and diameter of the electrospun nanofiber decreased with an increase in CNF content. The diameter and its distribution of the electrospun nanofibers helped explain the differences observed in their morphology. These results show that the electrospinning method was successful in preparing uniform CNF/PVA nanofibers, indicating a great potential for manufacturing consistent and reliable cellulose-based nanofibrils for scaffolds in future applications.

Urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin is widely used as an adhesive for the manufacture of a range of wood and fiber based products. Although the microstructure of this resin has been examined at high resolution by field-emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has thus far not been used, perhaps because of difficulties in ultrathin sectioning this resin in cured (polymerized) state. In the technical note presented here, a novel sample preparation method is described which enabled us to examine the microstructural morphology of UF resin by transmission electron microscopy in ultrathin sections, revealing the presence of spherical particles within the resin. Our initial attempt to ultrathin section the resin directly was not successful as it was too brittle to trim blocks for sectioning. Then, we developed a sample preparation technique that involved impregnation of Pinus radiata wood tissues with the UF resin, and then embedding of resin impregnated wood tissues with Spurr's low viscosity embedding medium, which has been widely employed in plant and wood ultrastructure work. The TEM images illustrated and the information on the microstructural morphology of the UF resin presented are based on this novel sample preparation approach.

This study attempted to measure molecular weight (MW) of melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF) resins prepared by two different synthesis methods: the one-step MUF resins were synthesized in one batch procedure, while the two-step MUF resins were prepared by a physical mixing of urea-formaldehyde (UF) resin with melamine-formaldehyde (MF) resin that had been synthesized in a separate procedure. The properties of medium density fiberboard (MDF) panels bonded with two types of MUF resins were also investigated. MWs of these MUF resins were measured using gel permeation chromatography (GPC). In addition, this study measured the MWs of one-step MUF resin during its synthesis procedure. The performance of two types of MUF resins was evaluated by determining properties of MDF panels prepared in laboratory. As the synthesis procedure progressed, both number average MW (M n ) and weight average MW (M w ) of one-step MUF resin gradually increased, while the polydispersity index (PDI) decreased. And low MW species of the resin predominantly decreased as the synthesis step progressed. The one-step MUF resin showed greater M n and M w than those of the two-step ones even though the PDI values of both resins were very similar each other. As expected, the one-step MUF resin resulted in better properties of MDF panels than those of two-step resins. In particular, the one-step MUF resin provided better internal bond (IB) strength and thickness swelling (TS) with MDF panels than those of two-step ones, indicating better water resistance of the one-step resin. These results suggest that the preparation method of MUF resins have a great impact on the MW and final panel properties.

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