Ecole Nationale Superieure des Technologies et Industries du Bois, Universite de Nancy I, Epinal, France
The loose term renewable resources adhesives has been used to identify polymeric compounds of natural, vegetable origin that have been modified and/or adapted to the same use as some classes of purely synthetic adhesives [1]. At present two classes of these adhesives exist: one already extensively commercialized in the southern hemisphere and the other on the slow way to commercialization. These two types of resins are tannin — based adhesives [2] and lignin adhesives [3-6]. Both types are aimed primarily at substituting synthetic phenolic resins. In some aspects, such as performance, they closely mimic, or are even superior to, synthetic phenolic adhesives, while in others they behave in a vastly different manner from their synthetic counterparts. In this chapter we focus primarily on tannin-based adhesives because they have already been in extensive industrial use in the southern hemisphere, in certain fields of application, for the past 20 years. These adhesives are of some interest not only for their excellent performance in some applications but also for their mostly environmentally friendly composition. Lignin adhesives are treated briefly here and in detail in Chap. 28.