This study used transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to investigate the micro-morphological features of two formaldehyde to urea (F/U) mole ratio liquid urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins with three hardener levels as a function of the curing time. The micro-morphological features of the liquid UF resins were characterized after different curing times. As a result, the TEM examination revealed the presence of globular/nodular structures in both liquid UF resins, while spherical particles were only visible in the low F/U mole ratio resins. The high F/U mole ratio liquid UF resins also showed extensive particle coalescence after adding the hardener, along with the appearance of complex filamentous networks. When the resins were cured with a higher amount of hardener and longer curing time, the spherical particles disappeared. For the low mole UF resins, the particles tended to coalesce with a higher amount of hardener and longer curing time, although discrete spherical particles were still observed in some regions. This is the first report on the distinct features of the crystal structures in low F/U mole ratio UF resins cured with 5% hardener and after 0.5 h of curing time. In conclusion, the present results indicate that the crystal structures of low F/U mole ratio UF resins are formed during the curing process.

As a part of abating formaldehyde emission of urea-formaldehyde resin, this study was conducted to investigate the rmalcure kinetics of both neat and modified urea-formaldehyde resins using differential scanning calorimetry. Neat urea-formaldehyde resins with three different formaldehyde/urea mol ratios (1.4, 1.2 and 1.0) were modified by adding three different additives (sodium bisulfite, sodium hydrosulfite and acrylamide) at two different levels (1 and 3wt%). An isoconversional method at four different heating rates was employed to characterize thermal cure kinetics of these urea-formaldehyde resins to obtain activation energy () dependent on the degree of conversion (). The values of neat urea-formaldehyde resins (formaldehyde/urea = 1.4 and 1.2) consistently changed as the increased. Neat and modified urea-formaldehyde resins of these two F/U mol ratios did show a decrease of the at the final stage of the conversion while the of neat urea-formaldehyde resin (formaldehyde/urea = 1.0) increased as the increased, indicating the presence of incomplete cure. However, the change of the values of all urea-formaldehyde resins was consistent to that of the Ea values. The isoconversional method indicated that thermal cure kinetics of neat and modified urea-formaldehyde resins showed a strong dependence on the resin viscosity as well as diffusion control reaction at the final stage of the conversion.