Comparative Study of Effect of Addition of Calcium Carbonate and Clay on the Performance Properties of Polyvinyl Acetate Wood Glue

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) stabilized Polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) dispersions-based wood adhesive has poor water and heat resistance. Recently, the addition of fillers in the wood adhesive is one of the most effective ways to enhance the performance of PVAc wood adhesive. Inorganic fillers have unique characteristics to improve the performance of adhesive, such as small size, high surface energy and surface hardness. Hence, the present work investigates the applicability of calcium carbonate and clay incorporated 3% in situ emulsion polymerization PVAc wood adhesive. Effect on physical, thermal and mechanical properties was studied by viscosity, pH, contact angle measurement, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and pencil hardness test of films. Emulsions with 3% calcium carbonate and 3% clay were prepared and the shear strength of the applied adhesive on wood was measured. The viscosity of the adhesives was reduced in the case of the addition of calcium carbonate and increased in the case of clay. The mechanical properties like tensile strength of adhesives with calcium carbonate and clay were measured by a universal tensile machine (UTM). Thermal stability was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The tensile shear strength demonstrates that clay can improve bonding strength as compared to calcium carbonate of PVAc adhesive in wet conditions. The hardness of PVAc films was also changed positively by the addition of calcium carbonate and clay. Thermal stability of PVAc was significantly improved as calcium carbonate and clay were added to PVAc. Here, we did a comparative study of the effect of the addition of calcium carbonate and clay filler materials in situ polymerization of PVAc on their different properties.