Flow, curing and mechanical properties of thermoset resins - wood-fiber blends for potential additive-manufacturing applications

This study examined the use of softwood mill residues (50-90%) with two thermosetting resins (i) urea-formaldehyde (UF) and (ii) phenol-resorcinol-formaldehyde (PRF) resin, for potential use in additive manufacturing (AM) of wood composite materials. The curing behavior of these blends was evaluated using differential scanning calorimetry and dynamic rheology. Curing kinetics was determined using the Kissinger and Cranes method. The presence of wood fibers reduced the curing peak temperatures for both resin blends at the same heating rates but curing peak temperatures increased with heating rates. The activation energy (E-a) increased with the addition of wood for the wood-PRF blends but reduced for the wood-UF blends in comparison to the neat resins. E-a values were 51 and 271 kJ/mol for PRF and wood-PRF samples and 100 and 367 kJ/mol for UF and wood-UF samples. Frequency sweep flow curves of the green wood-resin blends showed shear thinning behaviors with viscosity values between 10(3)-10(8) Pa.s at 30 degrees C. Mechanical properties of the wood-resin composites generally showed a reduction in flexural modulus with an increase in wood content. Wet wood (50%)-PRF blend was successfully extruded and showed promise for use in AM; however, the wood-UF blend was not successful.