Improving the cleanability of melamine-coated particleboards
Decorative laminates based on melamine formaldehyde (MF) resin impregnated papers are used at great extent for surface finishing of engineered wood.
In all these applications that are used for furniture, kitchen, and working surfaces, flooring and exterior cladding optically flawless appearance is a major issue. A work of Austrian researchers is focused on enhancing the cleanability and antifingerprint properties of smooth, matt surface-finished melamine-coated particleboards for furniture fronts, without at the same time changing or deteriorating other important surface parameters such as hardness, roughness or gloss.
Surfaces based on PDMS-OH showed improved cleanability
In order to adjust the surface polarity of a low pressure melamine film, novel interface-active macromolecular compounds were prepared and tested for their suitability as an antifingerprint additive. Two hydroxy-functional surfactants (polydimethysiloxane, PDMS-OH and perfluoroether, PF-OH) were oxidised under mild conditions to the corresponding aldehydes (PDMS-CHO and PF-CHO) using a pyridinium chlorochromate catalyst. With the most promising oxidised polymeric additive, PDMS-CHO, the contact angles against water, n-hexadecane, and squalene increased from 79.8°, 26.3° and 31.4° for the pure MF surface to 108.5°, 54.8°, and 59.3°, respectively, for the modified MF surfaces. While for the laminated MF surface based on the oxidised fluoroether the gloss values were much higher than required, for the surfaces based on oxidised polydimethylsiloxane the technological values as well as the lower gloss values were in agreement with the requirements and showed much improved surface cleanability, as was also confirmed by colorimetric measurements.
The study is published in: Journal of Applied Polymer Science, Volume 131, Issue 21, November 2014.
