Bio-based Adhesives: Chemistry, Performance and Applications

After this course, the student will:

1\. Understand the existing theories of adhesion.
2\. Gain fundamental knowledge about the different types of adhesives and distinguish between fossil-based and bio-based adhesives.
3\. Become familiar with the relationship between chemical structure and properties in the development of novel adhesives.
4\. Have a basic understanding of bio-adhesive solutions, their advantages and disadvantages, and key requirements/desired properties.
5\. Have foundational knowledge of wood industry products, their manufacturing processes, and performance requirements, including paper and cardboard, and wood-based panels
6\. Be able to synthesise and evaluate bio-adhesives for use in various wood industry products.
7\. Be able to use various analytical techniques and characterise adhesives and evaluate their performance for development and optimisation purposes.
8\. Be able to produce a wood panel type using bio-adhesives and conduct basic wood panel tests for development and optimisation, and be familiar with laboratory production and evaluation of particleboard, fibreboard, and plywood.