To prepare a low-formaldehyde soy-based adhesive with good water resistance, phenol-formaldehyde modified with glutaraldehyde (PFG) with lower free phenol and free formaldehyde contents was used to cross-link the soy-based adhesive. The results showed that the mechanical properties and water resistance of plywood prepared with soy-based adhesive with PFG was better than that of plywood with the same amount of phenol-formaldehyde (PF). The reaction between phenol and glutaraldehyde was proved by 13C-NMR. Under the optimized preparation conditions for plywood, that is to say, press temperature 160 °C, press time 4 min and resin loading 320 g·m-2, type I plywood could be prepared with 9% PFG as a cross-linker of soy-based adhesive. The Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) result confirmed the cross-linking reaction between soy-based adhesive and PFG or PF. The activation energy of soy-based adhesive with cross-linker PFG was higher than that with PF resin.
Keywords: crosslinking modification; glutaraldehyde; phenol-formaldehyde; preparation procedure; soy-based adhesive.