Open Access
ARTICLE
An Eco-Friendly Wood Adhesive from Alfalfa Leaf Protein
Bengang Zhang1,2,#, Xuedong Xi3,#, Zhigang Wu1,*, Hong Lei2,*, Lifen Li1, Meifen Tian1
1 College of Forestry, Guizhou University, Guiyang, 550025, China
2 Yunnan Provincial Key Laboratory of Wood Adhesives and Glued Products, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, 650224, China
3 ENSTIB-LERMAB, University of Lorraine, Epinal, 88051, France
* Corresponding Authors: Zhigang Wu. Email: ; Hong Lei. Email:
(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Renewable and Biosourced Adhesives)
Journal of Renewable Materials 2020, 8(11), 1429-1441. https://doi.org/10.32604/jrm.2020.011985
Received 08 June 2020; Accepted 08 July 2020; Issue published 28 September 2020
Abstract
According to the preparation method commonly used for soy proteinbased
adhesives, alfalfa leaf protein was used as the raw material to prepare alfalfa
leaf protein-based wood adhesive. Differential scanning calorimetry analyzer
(DSC), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)
were used to characterize properties of the alfalfa leaf protein-based adhesive
in this paper. The results revealed the following: (1) Chemical compositions and
chemical structures of the alfalfa leaf protein were basically identical with those
of the soy protein, both belonging to spherical proteins with the basis and potential
for protein adhesives preparation, and spatial cross-linked network structures would
be easily formed. (2) Alfalfa leaf protein and soy protein adhesives had the similar
curing behaviors, curing temperature of alfalfa leaf protein-based adhesive was relatively
lower, and the heating rate had minor influence on curing temperature of
alfalfa leaf protein-based adhesive. At different heating rates, change tendencies
of curing reaction degrees of both the two adhesives were not totally the same.
(3) Activation energy and reaction frequency factor of the alfalfa leaf protein-based
adhesive were higher than those of soy protein-based adhesive, indicating that the
curing reaction of the alfalfa leaf protein adhesive was more difficult than soy
protein-based adhesive, thus the dry shear strength and water resistance of alfalfa
protein-based adhesive were lower than those of soy protein-based adhesive.
Dynamics models of curing reactions of alfalfa leaf protein-based adhesive and
soy protein-based adhesive are
dα/dt = 1.06 × 10
13e-97370/RT (1 — α)
0.938 and
dα/dt = 1.09 × 10
11e-84260/RT (1 — α)
0.928 respectively. The results of this study
will expand the selection of raw materials for protein-based wood adhesives.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Zhang, B., Xi, X., Wu, Z., Lei, H., Li, L. et al. (2020). An Eco-Friendly Wood Adhesive from Alfalfa Leaf Protein.
Journal of Renewable Materials, 8(11), 1429–1441.