An eco-friendly wood adhesive based on waterborne polyurethane grafted with gelatin derived from chromium shavings waste

An environmentally friendly wood adhesive developed from waterborne polyurethane (WPU) grafted gelatin (G) was investigated in this research. First, the G was extracted from chromium shavings waste, and then mixed with a prepolymer emulsion of WPU to synthesis the graft copolymer (WPUG) via a solvent-free emulsion copolymerization. The synthesized copolymer was characterized using the mechanical properties test, TGA, FT-IR, and other analysis technology. The results indicated that the WPUG had a good overall performance. Specifically, the contact angle reached 111.5 degrees, the tensile strength reached 32.91 MPa, the temperature of the maximum weight loss was greater than 350 degrees C. The WPUG adhesive had excellent bonding power and mechanical properties; the dry bonding strength reached 4.21 MPa when the ratio between free amino groups of the G and isocyanate-groups of the WPU (the R value) was 1.5. This preparation of the graft copolymer not only satisfies the need of environment-friendly wood adhesives, but it also effectively improves the recyclability of chromium shavings waste.

Automated summary

An environmentally friendly wood adhesive developed from waterborne polyurethane grafted gelatin was investigated. The graft copolymer was synthesized by extracting gelatin from chromium shavings waste and mixing it with a prepolymer emulsion of waterborne polyurethane. The results showed that the synthesized copolymer had good overall performance, excellent bonding power, and improved recyclability of chromium shavings waste.