Today, the most commonly used adhesives in the wood industry
are
fossil-based, but the search for new, renewable and less hazardous,
resources for adhesives is intensifying. Hemicelluloses show promising
bonding performance when used as a component in wood adhesives. Since
batch-to-batch variations can affect the use of hemicelluloses in
a large-scale production, we have investigated the effect of hemicellulose
molecular weight on important adhesive properties, such as viscosity
and bond strength, by using locust bean gum as a hemicellulose model
and varying the molecular weight through hydrolysis. Results showed
that there is a nonlinear proportionality between bond strength and
molecular weight. In the molecular weight range used in the study,
70–1460 kDa, anoptimum in the adhesive performance was achieved
with intermediate molecular weights, 320 and 530 kDa, especially when
considering applicability and bond strength. Adhesives with lower
molecular weights, 70 and 150 kDa, did not exhibit sufficient cohesive
strength; therefore, the bond strength was lower. The adhesive with
higher molecular weight, 1460 kDa, was difficult to apply, especially
since its maximum solid content was very low, 5 wt %.