3.1 Characterization results of CSC-G adhesive
Table 1
Compositions of the CSC-G adhesives.
Adhesives | CSC (g) | Glucose (g) | Distilled water (g) |
CSC-G | 6 | 6 | 18 |
CSC-2G | 4 | 8 | 18 |
2CSC-G | 8 | 4 | 18 |
Table 2
GPC results of Chitosan and CSC-G adhesive.
Samples | Mn | Mw | PDI |
Chitosan | 8140 | 30008 | 3.65 |
CSC-G adhesive | 15033 | 37300 | 2.48 |
FTIR analysis
Figure 2 shows the FTIR spectra of CS, CSC, and CSC-G adhesive. The broad absorption band of CS at 3450 cm− 1 attributed to N-H and O-H tensile vibrations [31, 32], with 1090 cm− 1 being the tensile vibration of CH2-O-CH2. In addition, the peaks at 1598 and 1320 cm− 1 belong to the typical N-H bending and C-N tensile vibrations of chitosan [17], respectively. The peak of 1660 cm− 1 is attributed to the C = O stretching vibration of the residual amide bond in chitin. Compared with CS, the infrared spectrum of CSC shows significant changes. Firstly, due to the consumption of -NH2 and -OH, the peak located at 3450 cm− 1 was significantly weakened. A peak attributed to C = O was generated at 1706 cm− 1, proving that MA reacted with chitosan and produced amide or ester groups. Secondly, compared to CSC, the absorption peak in CSC-G shifted from 1706 cm− 1 to 1714 cm− 1, and the peak width was significantly enhanced, indicating that the carboxyl groups in CSC reacted with the hydroxyl groups on glucose to generate more esters [33], forming a cross-linked structure. In addition, a new broad peak appeared at 3600 cm− 1, which belongs to the hydroxyl group on glucose [34], indicating that the adhesive contains many hydrogen bonds, which is also why CSC-G has good bonding performance. The above results indicate that maleic anhydride acts as a “bridge” to connect chitosan and glucose, forming a densely cross-linked network structure.
13 C NMR analysis
In addition, the chemical structures of CS, CSC and CSC-G were further analyzed by 13C NMR. As can be seen from Fig. 3, both CSC and CSC-G, as derivatives of chitosan, have obvious unit absorption peaks of D-anhydroglucopyranose units (AGUs) [32]. Chemical shift peaks less than 100 ppm are attributed to C1-6 or C11-16, and have different chemical shift values in different environments, which is consistent with previous reports [32]. In the spectra of CSC, three new absorption peaks were detected at 169.8, 162.5, and 131.8 ppm, which were attributed to C7, C10, C8, and C9, respectively. These three new signals prove that CS and MA react successfully to obtain CSC. Compared with CSC, the peak of CSC-G at 162.5 ppm disappeared and moved to 169.2 ppm, indicating that the carboxyl and glucose reactions on CSC were consumed to form ester groups [34]. The above results provided strong evidence for the successful preparation of CSC-G adhesive.
XPS analysis
To better understand the changes in the adhesive before and after curing, XPS analysis was conducted on CS, CSC-G adhesive, and cured CSC-G adhesive (Fig. 4). Upon comparing Fig. 4a and c, it is evident from the high-resolution spectra of C1s in both figures that a new peak at 288.7 eV has emerged, which can be attributed to C = O [35, 36]. The results indicate that maleic anhydride acts as a bridge to connect CS and glucose. The content of O atom in uncured CSC-G adhesive is 14.96%, and the content of O bonds in cured CSC-G adhesive is 26.47%, indicating a decrease in C-O bonds after resin curing (Fig. 4f). This may be better than the thermal pressing process, where glucose is dissociated from the cross-linked network and undergoes pyrolysis or dehydration to form anhydride [34]. High temperature is beneficial for the generation of esters while also leading to a decrease in -OH content and an increase in C = O bonds in the adhesive. These analysis results are consistent with infrared spectroscopy, indicating the composition of the cross-linking network and the successful preparation of CSC-G adhesive.
Thermal performance analysis
DSC
The curing behavior of CSC-G adhesive was studied through DSC analysis. Compared to CS and CSC, CSC-G adhesive has significant endothermic peaks. The curing temperatures of CSC-G, CSC-2G, and 2CSC-G are 135.9 ℃, 151.5 ℃, and 155.6 ℃, respectively (Fig. 5). The addition of too much CSC or glucose is not conducive to solidification. In addition, no other exothermic peaks were found in the 170–230 ℃ range, indicating that the reaction between CSC and glucose is complete at 5 hours. Among them, the CSC-G adhesive has the lowest curing temperature, which indicates that its curing degree is more complete and its performance is more excellent than other adhesives under the same curing conditions. According to the DSC curve, the optimal curing temperature for CSC-G adhesive is 160 ℃. However, according to previous reports, polyester adhesives require a higher curing temperature [33, 34]. Therefore, we first set the hot-pressing temperature at 200 ℃ to select the optimal CSC-G adhesive ratio and optimize the hot-pressing parameters in subsequent experiments.
TG
To explain the cross-linking network of CSC-G and explore the thermal stability of CS derivatives, TG testing was conducted. For all test samples, the mass loss at 30–120 ℃ is attributed to the evaporation of polymer moisture (Fig. 6). CS (Tmax=300 ℃) due to the destruction or degradation of molecular chains [35]. The decomposition temperature of CSC-G tends to increase, because the high density of covalent bonds in the CSC-G network structure is conducive to the thermal stability of CSC-G adhesive [36]. The rapid decomposition of the CSC-G adhesive began at 345.98 ℃, indicating that the CSC-G adhesive has satisfactory thermal stability. At 200 ℃, the mass loss of CSC-G is only 7.77%, indicating that CSC-G is more stable due to the formation of cross-linking networks. It also indicates that short-term hot pressing at 200 ℃ will not cause significant decomposition of cured CSC-G.
XRD analysis
As shown in Fig. 7, CS has a strong diffraction peak at 20.3°, which is caused by the semi-crystalline nature of chitosan itself [37], resulting from the free amino groups on the chitosan molecule and internal hydrogen bonds. Compared with CS, the diffraction curve of CSC is relatively more tortuous, and a new diffraction peak appears near 12.3°, indicating that carboxylation of chitosan through maleic anhydride increases the crystallinity of chitosan [38]. After the addition of glucose, the peak located at 12.3° disappeared. The peak at 20.3° showed slight displacement and significant weakening, indicating that the multiple interactions of esterification reaction and spatial rearrangement formed more coordination bonds and intermolecular hydrogen bonds, resulting in a certain decrease in crystallinity. The emergence of new crystallization peaks at 28.72° may be the reason for the excellent water resistance of CSC-G adhesive [39].
Mechanical properties
CS and CSC have poor solubility in water, so they cannot be used as wood adhesives in this experiment. But CSC-G exhibits good water solubility, which may be related to adding glucose structure, which brings more hydroxyl groups. The ratio of CSC to glucose has a significant impact on the water resistance of plywood. As shown in Fig. 8a, CSC-2G adhesive did not exhibit superior boiling water resistance under 200 ℃ hot-pressing conditions. The addition of excessive glucose results in insufficient CSC to react with it, leading to the presence of a large amount of glucose or byproducts free from the cross-linking network in the adhesive system, resulting in a decrease in the performance of the plywood. The high cross-linking degree helps improve the cured adhesive's shear strength (Table 2). CSC-G adhesive is prepared by reacting carboxyl groups on CSC and hydroxyl groups on glucose, a dynamic equilibrium reaction of ester product synthesis and hydrolysis. Therefore, a higher hot-pressing temperature is conducive to the esterification reaction and the curing of CSC-G adhesive and to increasing the adhesive's cohesion and adhesion to the wood surface. Overall, C = O, - OH, and hydrogen bonding endow the adhesive with excellent properties. Considering that reducing temperature and hot-pressing time can reduce energy consumption in the actual production process, and CSC-G adhesive with a CSC/G mass ratio of 1.0 has better water resistance, we took CSC-G adhesive as the experimental object and optimized the hot-pressing conditions by changing the hot pressing temperature and time. As shown in Fig. 8b, CSC-G adhesive showed good heat resistance (0.88 MPa) even when the temperature was reduced to 160 ℃. The effective way to reduce the pressing temperature and obtain satisfactory bond strength is to prolong the pressing time with a lower temperature [40]. To our delight, after hot pressing at 180 ℃ for 3 min and soaking in hot and boiling water for 3 h, the wet shear strength was 0.83 MPa and 0.71 MPa, respectively, which was higher than the relevant standards (Fig. 8c). Considering that the DSC peak of CSC-G is 135.9 ℃ (Fig. 5), CSC-G adhesive was hot pressed at 140 ℃ for different times, and the results are shown in Fig. 8d. Under the hot pressed condition, CSC-G adhesive still has certain performance. Different types of wood fracture can be observed in Fig. 8e, indicating that with the increase of temperature, the wood loss rate increases, the permeability of the adhesive to the wood increases, and the mechanical interlocking behavior of the wood glue interface is enhanced. Compared with adhesives with similar structures or similar preparation mechanisms, it can be found that the CSC-G adhesive prepared in this study has better curing temperature and mechanical properties (Table 3). In addition, the raw materials of the prepared adhesive are all from biomass and have no formaldehyde release. As a green and environmentally friendly biomass polyester adhesive, it has a good application prospect in the wood industry.
Table 3
Comparison of wet shear strength between CSC-G adhesive and adhesive with similar synthesis mechanism or structure under hot-pressing temperature for three-plywood.
Adhesives | Hot pressing temperature/℃ | Hot water shear strength/MPa | Boiling water shear strength/MPa | Reference |
CAG | 200 | 1.33 | 1.35 | [34] |
HBPCA | 200 | 1.49 | 1.47 | [33] |
P-OS-M | 180 | 1.04 | - | [41] |
CHG | 180 | 1.37 | - | [42] |
CH | 200 | 1.24 | - | [43] |
CS | 160 | 0.65 | - | [17] |
CSC-G | 160 | 0.79 | 0.82 | This work |
180 | 1.25 | 1.15 |
200 | 1.5 | 1.39 |