Soy Products for Wood Bonding

Abstract

Understanding the structure-property relationships for proteins as adhesives is complicated due to the complex and changeable colloidal nature of most proteins. An abundant source of protein in many parts of the world is the soybean, but the inexpensive soy flour is only 50% protein with the remainder being an approximately equal split of soluble and insoluble carbohydrates. These carbohydrates have been considered the causeof the poor strength under wet conditions for bonded wood products. However, removal of the soluble and/or insoluble carbohydrates did not lead to dramatic improvement in wet bond strength, showing that the native protein is not a great adhesive. In contrast, hydrothermal treatment of the purer proteins provided much higher strength showing the importance of thermal history when considering the use of soy protein in adhesive systems.

Citation

Frihart, Charles R.; Birkeland, Michael. 2016. Soy Products for Wood Bonding. In: Proceedings of the 59th International Convention of Society of Wood Science and Technology. 7 p.