Cationized Melamine-formaldehyde Resin for Improving the Wet Strength of Paper

keywords:cationized melamine-formaldehyde resin  wet tensile strength  fruit-bagging paper  triethanolamine  dimethylamine

Abstract:In this work, melamine-formaldehyde resin was cationized by adding modifiers so that the fibers closely bonded to improve their usability and the wet strength of paper was greatly improved. Triethanolamine and dimethyla-mine were added to modify the melamine-formaldehyde resin, respectively. The mechanism of the cationized resin was explored and the possible chemical reactions were deduced. It was concluded that, with the use of triethanolamine, the most optimum product was obtained by hydroxymethylation for 30 min with a temperature of 85℃ and pH of 9.0 where n(melamine)∶n(formaldehyde)∶n(methanol)∶n(triethanolamine) was 100∶330∶450∶15. With the combined use of dimethylamine and methanol, the optimal product was acquired by condensation for 30 min at a temperature of 50℃ and pH of 2.0 at melamine, formaldehyde, methanol, and dimethylamine molar ratio of 100∶330∶350∶20. With the only use of dimethylamine, the optimal product was obtained by condensation at melamine, formaldehyde, dimethylamine molar ratio of 100∶330∶10. The wet tensile strength of fruit-bagging paper was improved by adding cationized melamine-formaldehyde resin. The zeta potential, charge density, and conductivity of the melamine-formaldehyde resin were also studied.