Investigation of formaldehyde-free soybean meal-based adhesive applying on particleboard

For manufacturing high mechanical properties and environmental-friendly particleboard, a formaldehyde-free soybean meal (SM)-based adhesive was developed and applied in the mechanical manufacture of particleboard. The thermal behavior of the adhesive was investigated and the properties of the particleboard were tested according to Chinese Standards methods. The results show that the optimum technical parameters were: hot-pressing temperature was 180 C, hot-pressing time was 65 s/mm, moisture content was 12 %, and glue content was 15 %. The MOR and IB of particleboard were 20.6 MPa and 0.59 MPa respectively. It fully fits the Chinese National Standards GBT 4897.5-2003. Therefore, it is a practical way for manufacturing environmental friendly particleboard by SM-based adhesive.