Urea Formaldehyde

Abdul Haseeb
E13-318
5th Semester
Metallurgy and Materials Engineering
 Introduction

UF is an “amino resin” or “amine-formaldehyde” class of

thermoset adhesive.
Binding property.
Good adhesion, high curing rate and low cost.
Brittleness.
Urea and Formaldehyde are usually in different mole
ratios.

Repeating unit of UF
 Polymerization method

Mild alkali
(pH>7)

pH is used to control reaction rate. Occurs slowly

under slightly basic conditions.
Production of the intermediates is monitored and
controlled by viscosity.

Reference: Materials and Design: The art and science of material by Michael F. Ashby, Kara Jhonsons,
 UF Condensation Reaction

Condensation
may be linear
or cross-linked

Result: Cured
network (cross-
linked) molecular
structure
 Physical properties, Uses and limitations

Density 1500 Kg/m3. These are the uses of UF:

Tensile strength 48-78 MNm-2 . Glues for plywood
Compressive strength 70-110 Cellulose and foam products.
MNm-2 . Paints.
Better electrical properties. Surface coatings.
Scratch free. Adhesives.
Get effected by sunlight. Plugs, switches, buttons etc.

These are the limitations of UF:

Formaldehyde emission.
Poor water resistance.

Reference: Fundamentals of material science by R.K.Rajpoot

Self healing coatings containing dual active agent
loaded urea formaldehyde (UF) microcapsules
T. Siva, S. Sathiyanarayanan

Linseed oil, mercaptobenzothiazole (MBT), urea, formaldehyde,

Ammonium chloride.
UF has high degradation temperature 710°C as compared to
UFLO/MBT which has 622°C.
From the Soxhlet apparatus they have estimated that the core content of
microcapsules is 78% UF. Inhibitor loaded Linseed oil has the ability to
dry by oxidation with atmospheric oxygen and hence seals the crack in
the coating.

Reference: Sciencedirect.com
Tensile shear strength of wood bonded with urea formaldehyde
with different amounts of microfibrillated cellulose
Jin Heon Kwon , Seung-Hwan Lee, Nadir Ayrilmis, Tae Hyung Han

Plant fibers, which are abundant renewable resources, exhibit high

specific strength and stiffness, and industrial use of plant fibers as
fillers in composites have attracted much interest.
Cross-linked network
between the MFCs and the
UF molecules was
produced.
Excess amount of fillers
reduces tensile strength.

Reference: Science Direct.com

Conclusion:
By all this we can conclude that due to the variety of synthesis
and good properties, this material is of so much importance in
industrial usage as well as in research work.
work