Abstract
Wheat gluten protein hydrolysate was used as a biomass feedstock to prepare environmentally friendly protein-based adhesives, with hydrolyzed wheat protein as control. Glutaraldehyde was used to modify it to obtain a glutaraldehyde-wheat protein (GP) adhesive. Polyethylenimine (PEI) was also used as a crosslinking agent. Plywood has been prepared and tested, and its performance was used to measure the wheat gluten protein hydrolysate adhesive bonding performance. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermomechanical analysis (TMA) were used to analyze the adhesive thermal properties and the microstructures of the cured adhesives by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that modification by glutaraldehyde can effectively improve the bonding performance of wheat protein adhesives, the plywood bonded strength having been improved by its addition. The effect of PEI as a crosslinking agent became evident. It can greatly improve the bonding properties of glutaraldehyde-modified wheat protein adhesives. TMA analysis indicates that the glutaraldehydemodified GP adhesive has a higher storage modulus than the unmodified one. The modulus of the adhesive increased after adding the PEI cross-linking agent.