THE USE OF XPS TO INVESTIGATE THE AGEING MECHANISM OF THE PHENOL-UREA-FORMALDEHYDE (PUF) BINDER COATED MINERAL FIBERS

摘要

In the production of mineral wool insulation products, Phenol-Urea-Formaldehyde (PUF) binder has been used for many years to bind mineral fibres together and to give desired mechanical strength to the material. The mechanical properties of the binder are found to decrease during long term ageing. The goal of this investigation is to identify the chemical changes occurring in the material during ageing that causes decrease in its mechanical properties. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) has been used widely for the characterization of adhesion of binders, coupling agents, coatings and polymer matrices with different kind of fibres and substrates. XPS was used in this study to observe chemical changes occurring due to ageing in the mineral wool products.