EFFECTS OF LIGNIN-CARBOHYDRATE COMPLEXES ON FOAMING OF BENZYLATED WOOD WITHOUT PLASTICIZERS

Research has been done with the aim of making a foam from benzylated w ood. As a result we have found that it is possible to produce an expan dable benzylated wood without adding any plasticizers or other polymer s. We have also found that it is necessary for the benzylated wood to retain more than 73% of the LCCs in the original wood in order to acco mplish ten to twenty times foaming. There was direct proportional rela tion between foaming extents and LCC content of the resultant resins u p to twenty times foaming. These results indicate that the LCCs in ben zylated wood act as a compatibilizer between lignin and polysaccharide s. The occurrence of lignin in the benzylated lignocellulose contribut ed greatly to the enhancement of closed cell content in the foam, and also yielded desirable effects on other physical properties of the res in.