PREPARATION AND PROPERTIES OF AGGLOMERATED CORK PANELS BOUND WITH CHITOSAN BINDER

In this paper, acidified chitosan was used as an adhesive to prepare aldehyde-free, environmentally-friendly agglomerated cork panels by hot-pressing. After preparation, thephysical, mechanical, and the finishing properties of the chitosan-glued agglomerated cork panels were investigated. The optimal mass ratio of acetic acid solution (1wt.%) to chitosan was determined to be 30:1. The resulting hot-pressed agglomerated cork panels, which featured adensity of 0.55 g.cm-3and a thickness of 4 mm, exhibited a tensile strength of 1.70 MPa and athermal conductivity of 0.11W.m-1·K-1. The agglomerated cork panels coated with theoil-based polyurethane and water-based, acrylic-modified polyurethane paints exhibited significantly lower lightness and higher glossiness. The total color differences (ΔE*) ofboth agglomerated cork panels increased before and after finishing. The oil-based polyurethane paint coating exhibited high adhesion of paint film, reaching a level-0 adhesion, while thewater-based, acrylic-modified polyurethane paint coating achieved a level-1 adhesion. Theabrasion resistance results showed that the substrates of cork agglomerates coated two types of paint did not expose after undergoing abrasion for 100 revolutions atthe turntable speed of 60 rpm.