Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 744748

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Bioresource Technology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech

Environment-friendly adhesives for surface bonding of wood-based ooring

using natural tannin to reduce formaldehyde and TVOC emission
Sumin Kim *
Department of Architecture, College of Engineering, Soongsil University, Seoul 156-743, Republic of Korea

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 7 May 2008
Received in revised form 26 June 2008
Accepted 27 June 2008
Available online 16 August 2008
Keywords:
Environment-friendly adhesive
Natural tannin
TVOC
Formaldehyde
Wood-based ooring

a b s t r a c t
The objective of this research was to develop environment-friendly adhesives for face fancy veneer bonding of engineered ooring using the natural tannin form bark in the wood. The natural wattle tannin
adhesive were used to replace UF resin in the formaldehyde-based resin system in order to reduce formaldehyde and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from the adhesives used between plywoods
and fancy veneers. PVAc was added to the natural tannin adhesive to increase viscosity of tannin adhesive
for surface bonding. For tannin/PVAc hybrid adhesives, 5%, 10%, 20% and 30% of PVAc to the natural tannin adhesives were added. tannin/PVAc hybrid adhesives showed better bonding than the commercial
natural tannin adhesive with a higher level of wood penetration. The initial adhesion strength was sufcient to be maintained within the optimum initial tack range. The standard formaldehyde emission test
(desiccator method), eld and laboratory emission cell (FLEC) and VOC analyzer were used to determine
the formaldehyde and VOC emissions from engineered ooring bonded with commercial the natural tannin adhesive and tannin/PVAc hybrid adhesives. By desiccator method and FLEC, the formaldehyde emission level of each adhesive showed the similar tendency. All adhesives satised the E1 grade (below
1.5 mg/L) and E0 grade (below 0.5 mg/L) with UV coating. VOC emission results by FLEC and VOC analyzer
were different with the formaldehyde emission results. TVOC emission was slightly increased as adding
PVAc.
2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
With the rising economic standards in Korean, concerns about
human health and the environment have been raised due to the
increasing demand for a wide range of ooring products. PVC
(polyvinyl chloride) ooring and laminated paper ooring treated
with soy bean oil were the most common types for housing in
the past. They, however, have begun to be replaced by wooden
ooring, especially in the apartments. There are three types of
wooden ooring: laminate, engineered and solid wood. The laminate ooring consists of high density berboard (HDF) as the core
material, while the engineered ooring is composed of plywood
with a thin fancy veneer bonded onto the face of the plywood using
urea-formaldehyde (UF) and melamine-formaldehyde (MF) resins
as hot-press adhesives (Kim and Kim, 2005a). Engineered ooring
can be the cause of emitting formaldehyde vapors because the different wood layers, usually consisting of hardwood and/or softwood veneer, are normally glued together with formaldehydebased adhesives. The hardwood top layer is most often treated
with a formaldehyde-free UV-lacquer or an oil to protect the surface (Risholm-Sundman et al., 1998). Two types of laminate oor* Tel.: +82 2 820 0665; fax: +82 2 816 3354.
E-mail address: skim@ssu.ac.kr
0960-8524/$ - see front matter 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2008.06.062

ing are commonly available: decorative plastic laminate bonded

onto the substrate by means of a wet bonding agent, and several
layers of specially saturated papers directly thermofused onto an
HDF substrate. Some laminate ooring emits small quantities of
formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (Wiglusz
et al., 2002; Kim et al., 2007a). Many wooden ooring products
containing formaldehyde-based resins release formaldehyde vapors, thus causing consumers dissatisfaction and health-related
complaints. Various symptoms such as the most common of which
is irritation of the eyes and the upper respiratory tract are attributed to the emission of formaldehyde gases. Also, formaldehyde
has been found to produce nasal carcinomas in mice and rats after
a prolonged exposure at 14.1 and 5.6 mg/L level, respectively.
These ndings have led to an intensied interest in the indoor
environment. Consumer products, especially construction materials, are a major source of formaldehyde emissions in the indoor
environment (Kim et al., 2007a; Brown, 1999).
Formaldehyde-based resins, however, have the advantages of
superb bonding properties and are inexpensive. Thus, they are
used extensively as the adhesives in manufacturing various household products. As noted earlier, one prominent application of UF
resin is in the manufacture of particleboard (PB), plywood, and
berboard (FB). Several thin sheets of wood are glued together
by UF resin to produce plywood, whereas PB and FB are manufac-

S. Kim / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 744748

tured by mixing wood chips and bers with the resin and then
pressing the mixture into its nal form at a high temperature
(Fuwape 1994; Kim and Kim, 2005b, 2006a). To reduce formaldehyde emission, the possibility of using replacement materials for
UF and PF adhesives has been studied for a long time. Tannin formaldehyde adhesives are obtained by the hardening of polymeric
avonoids of natural origin, especially of condensed tannin by
polycondensation with formaldehyde (Kim et al., 2007b; Pizzi,
1994).
Amongst the possible alternatives, tannin is an excellent renewable resource which can be used for replacing petroleum-derived
phenolic compounds. The major species from which it can be obtained are Mimosa, Quebracho and Radiata Pine. It is mainly concentrated in the inner layer of the bark and has been used in the
adhesive industry in Africa, South America and Oceania to obtain
the low formaldehyde emission levels required for environmental-friendly adhesives (Stefani et al., 2008; Pizzi, 1994; Roffael et
al., 2000; Kim et al., 2003). In the last decade several approaches
to the problem of producing low formaldehyde emission wood
panels using these wood adhesives have been developed. Moreover, hardeners cause formaldehyde emission even when tannin
adhesive is used (Trosa and Pizzi, 2001; Kim and Kim, 2004, 2003).
The greatest problem of formaldehyde and total VOC (TVOC)
emissions in engineered ooring is attributed to the face fancy veneer bonding. UF resin is still used in industry in a large quantity.
In this study, to reduce formaldehyde and TVOC emissions from
the resin for bonding face fancy veneer on engineered ooring,
UF resin was replaced by natural tannin adhesive. Formaldehyde
and TVOC emissions were measured by desiccator, eld and laboratory emission cell (FLEC) and VOC analyzer.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
2.1.1. Plywood and decorative veneer
The plywood and decorative veneer used for fabricating the test
samples were supplied by Easywood Co., Ltd., South Korea. The
decorative veneers were 0.5 mm thick maple, while the plywoods
(7 mm thick) manufactured in China were used. It was made with
5 plys of hardwood veneer bonded with phenol-formaldehyde resin. Their moisture contents were 0.08% and 3.5%, respectively.
2.1.2. Natural tannin adhesive for surface bonding
The wattle (Acacia mearnsii, mimosa) was supplied by the Bondtite Co. Ltd. in Australia. Aqueous tannin extracts with a 40% concentration were prepared by dissolving the spray-dried powder
of each tannin extracts in water. The viscosity as measured using
a Brookeld Viscometer Model DV-II+ was 200 cP (spindle No. 6
at 21 C). To these solutions, 8% of paraformaldehyde hardener
by weight of dry tannin extract was added. The mixture was stirred
physically for 30 min (Kim et al., 2003; Kim and Kim, 2004). The pH
ranged from 5.5 to 6.
2.1.3. Tannin/PVAc hybrid resin for surface bonding
Blends of various tannin adhesive/PVAc compositions were prepared. To make tannin/PVAc hybrid resin, 5, 10, 20 and 30 wt %
PVAc was added to natural tannin adhesive. The mixture was stirred for 20 min.
2.1.4. Fabrication of engineered ooring board
The engineered oorings for the formaldehyde and VOC emission tests were manufactured using natural tannin adhesive and
tannin/PVAc hybrid resin, with dimensions of 400 mm 
400 mm  75 mm (length  width  thickness). After the resin

745

was spread on the plywood, 0.5 mm thick maple fancy veneer

was bonded by cold- and hot-pressing. The pressure-time diagram
followed three-stage schedule, consisting of preliminary coldpressing at 1 kgf/cm2 for 2 min. for assembly, main hot-pressing
at 5 kgf/cm2 and 150 C for 160 s for resin curing, and nal coldpressing at 1 kgf/cm2 for 2 min.
2.2. Methods
2.2.1. Initial adhesion strength
The tack, or instantaneous adhesion, is one of the most important properties of a pressure-sensitive adhesive, and is a reection
of the adhesives ability to form bonds with a substrate at low pressure and in a short contact time. The tack is measured using two
methods: the probe tack test and the rolling ball tack test (Kim
and Kim, 2003). The tack has been studied intensively and the
probe tack test is a simple test whereby a cylindrical probe is
brought into contact with a thin lm of adhesive (thickness typically 50300 lm) for a short time (a few seconds), after which it
is pulled away at a constant velocity V ranging between 0.001
and 100 lm/s. A typical probe tack test can be divided into three
stages. In the rst stage, a at, stainless steel probe approaches
the adhesive layer applied to a microscope glass slide at a constant
velocity. When the contact pressure (pC) reaches the set pressure,
the probe stops (stage 2) for a contact time (tC) of 1 sec. The probe
is then removed during stage 3 at a constant debonding velocity
(Vdeb) (Mizumachi, 1985; Kim et al., 2007a).
The initial adhesion strength was determined using a Texture
Analyzer (TA-XT2i, Stable Micro Systems, Surrey, England) with a
5 mm-diameter, stainless steel, cylindrical probe. The measurements were carried out at a separation rate of 60 mm/min. under
a constant pressure of 100 kg with a dwell time of 1 sec and test
interval times of 1, 3, 5, 10, 20 and 30 min. Each of the adhesives
was applied to decorative veneer. In the debonding process, the
initial adhesion strength results were obtained at the maximum
debonding force. Each value represents an average of ve tests.
2.2.2. Surface bonding strength
The bonding strength between the fancy veneer and plywood
was evaluated with a Universal Testing Machine (UTM, Hounds
Co.) in the tensile mode. Samples were cut at 50 mm  50 mm
(length  width) and a knife mark of 20 mm  20 mm
(length  width) was made on the surface (fancy veneer face) to
a depth of 0.5 mm. We bonded the upper device of UTM and the
surface knife mark with hot-melt adhesive. Another face was
bonded to the underneath of the device like the internal bonding
strength test specimen. The tests were performed at a crosshead
speed of 2 mm/min (Kim and Kim, 2005b).
2.2.3. Light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy
For light microscopy (LM), small pieces containing glue line
between maple fancy veneer and plywood were hand sectioned
with a sharp razor blade to minimize articial cell distortions
by sectioning with a microtome. The sections were stained with
Sudan 4 and toluidine blue to enhance the contrast between the
glue line and the wood, respectively, prior to observation with
the microscope (DW-BM, Korea) with photo camera. For scanning
electron microscopy (SEM), small blocks containing glue line between fancy veneer and plywood were prepared using a sharp razor blade. The blocks were air-dried, mounted on stubs with an
adhesive carbon tape, and then coated with gold particles in a
vacuum evaporator. The coated samples were observed with a
SIRIOM SEM (FEI Co.) using a backscattered detector to enhance
the contrast between the glue line and the wood (Kim et al.,
2007b).

S. Kim / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 744748

2.2.4. Formaldehyde emission by desiccator method

The formaldehyde emissions from the engineered oorings
bonded with each blend were determined with a desiccator (JIS
A 1460) in accordance with JIS method using a glass desiccator.
This 24 h desiccator method used a common glass desiccator with
a volume of 10 L. Test specimens were positioned in the desiccator.
The emission test lasted 24 h in the covered desiccator at a temperature of 20 C. The emitted formaldehyde gases absorbed in a
water-lled petri dish were analyzed by means of the chromotropic acid method (Kim and Kim, 2004). The quantity of formaldehyde was obtained from the concentration of formaldehyde gases
absorbed in distilled or deionized water when the test pieces of
the specied surface area were placed in the desiccator lled with
a specied amount of water for 24 h. The principle for determining
the concentration of formaldehyde gases absorbed in the distilled
or deionized water is based on the Hantzsch reaction in which
the formaldehyde gases react with ammonium ions and acetylacetone to yield diacetyldihydrolutidine (Japanese Standards Association, 2001).
2.2.5. VOC analyzer
The VOC analyzer is a portable device to measure the four main
aromatic hydrocarbon gases: toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and
styrene. To prepare the samples for the VOC analyzer, the engineered oorings bonded with each blend were conditioned at
25 C and 50 5% in a thermo-hygrostat for 15 days and then cut
into four pieces of 50 mm  50 mm and placed in a 3 L polyester
plastic bag. The polyester plastic bag was sealed with teon tape,
purged 3 times with N2 gas, and then lled with N2 gas by pulling
up the plunger. For the blank control, an empty bag with N2 gas
was prepared. The gases for the VOC analyzer were collected from
the 3 L polyester plastic bag in a gas tight (0.5 cc) manner after 4
days, placed into the VOC analyzer and analyzed. This 4-day period
was chosen according to the authors previous study for determination of the optimum method for VOC emission test by VOC analyzer (Kim et al., 2007c). The measurement procedure was
comprised of three steps. First, the product was inserted into the
3 L polyester plastic bag, after which the plunger was slowly pulled
out, pushed in again, and pulled out for the second time before the
syringe was removed from the plastic bag. If the top of the syringe
was wet, it was wiped dry with a tissue. A dedicated needle was
attached, and 0.5 cc (1/2 calibration) of the sampled gases was
ejected by pushing in the plunger. The remaining gases were injected into the inlet on the main unit of the VOC analyzer, after
which the measurement was automatically started.
In Korea, the Ministry of Environment provides TVOC guidelines
for building materials. Even natural VOCs from wood are considered to be harmful and are included in the TVOC calculation. TVOC
was calculated between C6 and C16. In the VOC analyzer test, however, we dened TVOC as the sum of the four detected main aromatic hydrocarbon gases: toluene, ethylbenzene, styrene and
xylene. The VOC analyzer was found to be a suitable pre-test method for application as a TVOC emission test.
2.2.6. Field and laboratory emission cell (FLEC)
The FLEC was supplied with puried and humidied air at a given ventilation rate. The temperature and RH inside the chamber
were kept constant. The emission sample was collected after
5 min of equilibration time and 5 min of cleaning time under the
FLEC lid at an air ow of 250 ml/min. For formaldehyde, 4.5 L of
gas was collected in a 2, 4-DNPH cartridge for 30 min under a
gas ow rate of 150 ml/min while 1.5 L of gas was collected in a Tenax-TA tube for 30 min under a gas ow rate of 50 ml/min. The
condition of correction gas is shown in Table 1. The formaldehyde
and VOCs emitted were collected at 30 min after sample installation. HPLC and TDS/GC-MS were used for formaldehyde and VOCs.

Table 1
Condition for FLEC method
Variables

Condition

Sample area
Volume
Loading factor(Area of sample/
volume, m2/m3)
Air change rate (h1)
Air supply (mL/min)
Equilibration time
Temperaturehumidity
Compounds, sampling ow and
total sampling
Inlet air
Background concentration
Cleaning process

0.0177 m2
0.035 L
505.71 m2/m3

Analysis method

428.57/h
250 mL/min
sampling after 1530 min
23 2.0 C50 5%
VOC : 50 mL/min, 1.5 L Formaldehyde : 150 mL/
min, 4.5 L
High purity air
VOC : 2 lg/m3 TVOC : 20 lg/m3
Vacuum oven or cleaning by methylene then
high purity air for one day
VOC : GC/MS Formaldehyde : HPLC

Formaldehydes were analyzed by HPLC, and TDS/GC-MS was used

for VOCs. Each machine condition are expressed in Authors report
(Kim et al., 2007c). In this paper, TVOC was dened as the conversion of all areas of the peaks between C6 and C16 to concentrations
using the toluene response factor. A peak area under 10 was dened as the limit of detection. The sample gas was taken by Tenax-TA and 2, 4-DNPH cartridge 7 days after the sample
specimens were installed into the 20 L small chamber, according
to the regulation of the Ministry of Environment, Korea.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Surface bonding strength
A small diameter probe was brought into contact with the adhesive surface under a controlled pressure, held there for a controlled
time, then withdrawn at a controlled rate, after which the separation force was measured (Roos et al., 2002). The probe tack was
used for measuring the initial adhesion strengths of the adhesives.
Fig. 1 shows the probe tack results for maple decorative veneer.
With the increase of open assembly time, the probe tack of the natural tannin adhesive and tannin/PVAc hybrid adhesives increased
to a certain time and then decreased. The natural tannin adhesive
had the largest peak point at the rst 10 min from the spread on
wood surface. However, the probe tack of the natural tannin adhesive was too low to have initial adhesion compare to authors previous work about the optimum probe tack for initial adhesion of
surface bonding (Kim and Kim, 2006a). These peak points indicate
the maximum open assembly time, which is a very important
300

Initial adhesion strength (g)

746

Tannin70/PVAc30
Tannin80/PVAc20
Tannin90/PVAc10
Tannin95/PVAc5
Tannin adhesive only

250
200
150
100
50
0
0

10

15

20

25

30

Open assembly time (min)

Fig. 1. Initial adhesion strength of natural tannin adhesive and tannin/PVAc hybrid
adhesives.

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S. Kim / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 744748

3.2. Formaldehyde and TVOC emission

Tannin adhesive has been used as a thermosetting wood adhesive for wood panels to reduce formaldehyde emission (Kim and
Kim, 2004). Tannin adhesive gives excellent adhesive performance,
good moisture resistance, and tends to give a lower formaldehyde
emission than UF resin (Kim et al., 2007b). Before surface coating,
formaldehyde emissions from the products glued with tannin
adhesive was already less than E1 grade (under 1.5 mg/L) of formaldehyde emission level in the Korean Standard even though paraformaldehyde was contained in tannin adhesive, as shown in Table
2. The tannin/PVAc hybred adhesives samples were showed similar
tendency with the natural tannin adhesive. PVAc was not caused
increasing formaldehyde emission.
When fancy veneer on plywood was coasted by UV curable urethane acrylate coating, the formaldehyde emission from this ooring was reduced about two thirds. In the tannin/PVAc hybrid
adhesives system, the role of PVAc was not make formaldehyde

Table 2
Formaldehyde and TVOC emission of engineered ooring bonded with Natural
adhesive and tannin/PVAc hybrid adhesives by desiccator and FLEC method
Equipment

Desiccator (mg/L)

FLEC (mg/m2 h)

Air pollutant

Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde

TVOC

0.2
0.21
0.21

0.32
0.39
0.4

Natural tannin adhesive

Tannin90/PVAc10
Tannin80/PVAc20

Coateda

1.19
1.32
1.33

0.34
0.44
0.47

UV curable urethane acrylate coating.

Emission concentration (g/ m3)

Non-coated

200

150
Toluene
Ethybenzene
Styrene
Xylene

TVOC

100

150

50

100

50

0
Tannin adhesive

Tannin90/PVAc10

Tannin80/PVAc20

TVOC Emission concentration (g/m3)

process condition in a manufacturing plant. Optimizing the open

assembly time will enhance the work efciency. According to the
authors previous work (Kim and Kim, 2006a), the optimum initial
tack range is between 100 and 200 g by probe tack force. As it is,
the natural tannin adhesive has not enough viscosity for surface
bonding. When the adhesive spread on the veneer, low viscosity
adhesive penetrated into veneer rapidly. In the other hand, tannin/PVAc hybrid adhesives showed a higher initial tack than the
natural tannin adhesive. As increasing PVAc contents, the probe
tack was increased. On the maple veneer, the initial tack of the
20% of PVAc content to tannin/PVAc hybrid adhesive within
10 min of open assembly time was maintained within the optimum tack range.
The bonding strengths of the engineered ooring samples
bonded with various adhesive systems at a press temperature
and time of 150 C and 160 s. The bonding strengths of engineered
ooring samples made using tannin/PVAc hybrid adhesives
showed much higher than the natural tannin adhesive. Sample of
5% and 10% of PVAc content was 14.1 kgf/cm2 and 18.9 kgf/cm2
while the natural tannin adhesive was 5.99 kgf/cm2. As increasing
PVAc contents, the bonding strength was increased until 20% of
PVAc content. Over 20% of PVAc content (24.8 kgf/cm2), the bonding strength became equilibrium. The use of a PVAc introduces
reactive sites in tannin adhesive. The free C6 and C8 sites on the
A-ring can react with carbonyl group of PVAc because of their
strong nucleophilicity to form the adhesive (Pizzi, 1983). This high
reactivity of tannins towards carbonyl group is the result of their
A-ring phloroglucinolic or resorcinolic nuclei. As water-soluble
MF resin and PVAc are a miscible blend (Kim and Kim, 2007),
water-soluble tannin adhesive and PVAc are also miscible. Reaction
and miscibility between tannin and PVAc made higher bonding
strength than the natural tannin adhesive. I boiled the samples at
60 3 C for 4 h, dried them for 20 h, boiled them again for 4 h.
and nally dried them for 3 h. to determine the waterproof property of each adhesive system. Each adhesive system showed better
waterproof adhesion property than the commercial UF resin;
12 kgf/cm2 in authors previous work (Kim et al., 2007b). The similarity of the surface bonding strength was proved with the vivid
glue lines. The voids in wood near the glue line were lled with
adhesives. Furthermore, the tracheids walls in the outer few layers
were also ruptured in the tannin/PVAc hybrid resin. The rays were
also greatly distorted, with many broken and often compressed at
the point of contact with the glue line, thus blocking the glue penetration. The glue penetration into tracheids was mainly conned
to the outermost layer in direct contact with the glue line. Greater
penetration of adhesive normally increases bonding strength of
wood composites (Vzquez et al., 2003).

Adhesives for surface bonding

Fig. 2. VOC emission concentrations (toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and styrene)
from engineered ooring bonded with natural adhesive and tannin/PVAc hybrid
adhesives as determined by the VOC analyzer.

emission, by replacement of the tannin adhesive with formaldehyde-based hardener, and to increase the initial bonding strength
through PVAcs high viscosity and room temperature curable property. The formaldehyde emission level of the coated sample of MF/
PVAc hybrid appeared to satisfy the requirement of E0 grade when
UV coating was applied.
Fig. 2 presents the concentrations of the four indicated VOCs
from the engineered ooring bonded with each adhesive system,
as determined by the VOC analyzer. For each substance, the concentrations were measured at 96 h. after the start of the test. In
the rst phase, the concentration in the 3 L polyester bag increased
due to the constant emission of organic compounds and was limited by the given air exchange rate. Xylene was the highest detected compound in all samples, followed by ethylbenzene and
toluene in turn. Styrene, however, was not detected at all in any
of the systems. But TVOC emission of the PVAc added tannin adhesive system was slightly increased compare to the natural tannin
adhesive. This tendency of formaldehyde and TVOC emission from
the natural tannin adhesive and tannin/PVAc hybrid adhesives was
conrmed by FLEC test as shown in Table 2. The difference
between each system on formaldehyde emission was not shown
in FLEC data while TVOC of tannin/PVAc hybrid adhesives were
slightly increased compare to the natural tannin adhesive.
3.3. Curing behavior
It is important to understand the thermal properties because
tannin adhesives are thermosetting adhesives. These resins are in
the liquid state at room temperature and become solid at high
temperature after curing has taken place. Dynamic thermal
mechanical test methods have been widely used for investigating
the structures and dynamic mechanical properties of thermoset-

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S. Kim / Bioresource Technology 100 (2009) 744748

11

References

0.3

10

E (Storage modulus)

0.2

tan

Modulus (Pa)

E'
E''
Tand
tan

10

10

tan

0.1

E' (Loss modulus)

Tannin adhesive
Heating rate : 5 C/min

0.0

10

50

100

150

200

Temperature (oC)
Fig. 3. DMTA thermogram during heating ramp of natural tannin adhesive at a
heating rate of 5 C/min.

ting adhesives (Roffael et al., 2000; Kim et al., 2006; Onic et al.,
1998). In this study, E0 , E00 and tan d of each adhesive system were
obtained by DMTA, and those of the tannin adhesive are shown in
Fig. 3. In the DMTA thermogram, the dynamic mechanical properties of the thermosetting resin which was in the liquid state between wood veneers were analyzed. The DMTA thermogram in
Fig. 3 shows that E increased with increasing temperature, due
to the cross-linking induced by the curing reaction of the resin,
and reached a maximum when the curing reaction was completed.
The increase in E from the at area of the curve following the evaporation of the water to the maximum value was caused by the consolidation of the resin network. This difference (DE) was used to
evaluate the rigidity of the cured resin (Kim et al., 2006). The rigidity (DE) is another expression of curing degree where the change of
state from liquid to solid is high (Kim and Kim, 2006b). The results
were related to bonding strength. Greater curing showed higher
bonding strength. The rigidity of 5% and 10% of PVAc content
was 12.7 and 15.0 while the natural tannin adhesive was 5.1. As
increasing PVAc contents, the rigidity was increased until 20% of
PVAc content (rigidity = 15.5). Over 20% of PVAc content, the rigidity became equilibrium like bonding strength.
4. Conclusions
The bonding strength of tannin/PVAc hybrid adhesives was
higher than those of the natural tannin adhesive. 20% of PVAc contents of hybrid adhesive showed optimum initial adhesion
strength by probe tack. By desiccator method, the formaldehyde
emission, which was the similar emission data between the natural
tannin and tannin/PVAc hybrid adhesives, was lowered even by
adding PVAc, and more greatly reduced when UV curable urethane
acrylate was coated. It was E0 grade of formaldehyde emission level in the Korean Standard. In case of tannin/PVAc hybrid adhesive,
PVAc addition exhibited slightly increasing of formaldehyde and
TVOC emission by FLEC method. The test by VOC analyzer was conrmed as a suitable pre-test method for evaluation of TVOC emission level compare to result from FLEC. In conclusion, tannin/PVAc
hybrid adhesives were successfully applied as environment-friendlly adhesives of surface bonding for manufacturing engineered
ooring.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by Soongsil University Research Fund.

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