The wood-based panels largely represented by particleboard,
medium densityfiberboards (MDF), plywood and oriented strand
boards (OSB). These panels are the major constituent for the
production of wood furniture and other interior house constructions (i.e. flooring, wall paneling etc.). The global wood-based
panel market valued over US$ 80 billion in 2011[1]. Wood-based
panel are typically made with a heat-curing adhesive that holds
the woodfibers or wood-particles components together.
UF resin is one of the largely used adhesive for interior-grade
wood-based panels specially in particleboard (PB), a medium
densityfiberboard (MDF) manufacturing. It has some advantages
like fast curing, less in price and good mechanical strength of the
panels but has many drawbacks like lower water resistance, higher
emission of formaldehyde. The weakness of UF resins to hydrolysis
and the presence of free non-reacting formaldehyde in the panels
together responsible for the problem of formaldehyde emission
from the panels during manufacturing and service life.
The molar ratio of formaldehyde to urea (F/U) is the most
essential factor for affecting the formaldehyde emission liberation
from the panels. The formaldehyde emission can be lowered by
using the combination of UF resin and formaldehyde free adhesives
[2–4]. Several methods for manufacturing the low formaldehyde
emission panels have been studied, such as reducing formaldehyde