DMA analysis and wood bonding of PVAc latex reinforced with cellulose nanofibrils

Suspensions of commercial refined beech pulp (RBP) were further processed through mechanical disintegration (MD-RBP), chemical modification (CM-RBP) and through chemical modification followed by mechanical disintegration (CM-MD-RBP). Nanocomposites were prepared by compounding a poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) latex adhesive with increasing contents of the different types of nanofibrils, and the resulting nanocomposites were analyzed by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Also, the suitability of using the CM-RBP fibrils to formulate PVAc adhesives for wood bonded assemblies with improved heat resistance was studied. The presence of cellulose nanofibrils had a strong influence on the viscoelastic properties of PVAc latex films. For all nanocomposites, increasing amounts of cellulose nanofibrils (treated or untreated) led to increasing reinforcing effects in the glassy state, but especially in the PVAc and PVOH glass transitions. This reinforcement primarily resulted from interactions between the cellulose fibrils network and the hydrophilic PVOH matrix that led to the complete disappearance of the PVOH glass transition (tan δ peak) for some fibril types and contents. At any given concentration in the PVOH transition, the CM-MD-RBP nanofibrils provided the highest reinforcement, followed by the MD-RBP, CM-RBP and the untreated RBP. Finally, the use of the CM-RBP fibrils to prepare PVAc reinforced adhesives for wood bonding was promising since, even though they generally performed worse in dry and wet conditions, the boards showed superior heat resistance (EN 14257) and passed the test for durability class D