ABSTRACT
Amino resins are usually water-white, viscous materials that may contain added solvent to reduce viscosity for ease of handling. Most amino resins do not consist of a single chemical entity but are mixtures of monomeric and oligomeric molecules. Properties of the resin are dictated by the amount of each molecule type present in the mixture. These resins are used in thermoset and ambient cure systems. Figure 34.1 shows various types of amino resin precursors. The amino resins are made by reacting these precursors with formaldehyde (CH
=O) and then with primary alcohols (ROH). The resulting ether is >NCH
OR. Of these, the melamine-formaldehyde (MF) and urea-formaldehyde (UF) resins are the most widely used commercially.
