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Expert D. Expert has done adhesive failure analysis projects in connection with establishing cause in litigation cases or in research and production problems. For example, a wood millwork manufacturer claimed an adhesive was faulty, resulting in customer loss and damages. Examination of opened glue lines showed absence of wetting and lack of adhesive transfer to both joined surfaces. Expert used chemical color indicators and photomicroscopy to argue that the adhesive was excessively advanced in polymerization at arrival on the user's site, i.e., over date in inventory and not usable. This case was settled favorably. His additional experience in failure analysis has involved lab work to determine undercure, over-penetration, cohesive strength, surface energy, and moisture as adhesive failure factors.

Adhesive formulation has been a focus of Expert' activities in many projects. For a client with a difficult bonding problem, the approach is often to assess Employeradhesives, and then perform a source search for a better commercial adhesive. If a solution is not found in a worldwide source search, a special formulation, specific to the circumstances is offered for development by Expert in the lab. Toll manufacture of the formulation can be arranged. All ownership and any asociated IP is assigned to the client. An example of a special formulation was a flexible cold cure urethane adhesive for re-bonded polyurethane carpet underpad. This formulation was successfully used for years, bonding millions of pounds of underpad. A Employerexample of formulation work is a urethane-acrylate adhesive for structural wood laminates. This adhesive cures instantly under electron beam irradiation, or more slowly with peroxide catalysis. Several special structural acrylic adhesives were developed by Expert for example, a high temperature acrylic conformant with ASTM D 7247 for wood structures. Expert was engaged for 12 years in troubleshooting wood adhesives in plywood, oriented strand board (OSB), and laminate mills. His background is strong in hot press phenolics, ureas, and in melamine overlay adhesives. His participation in the furniture and building component industries as an adhesive supplier provides background in PVA and resorcinol adhesives. His experience in hot melt, water borne emulsion polymer isocyanates, methacrylate, epoxy and polyurethane adhesives has accrued in source selection, troubleshooting, and formulating tasks during consulting activities over the past 12 years. These activities have been within both a large corporate employment and a private small consulting sphere. Trouble shooting structural phenolic adhesives were engaged in Spain (2004) and hot melt adhesive prodcut lines were developed for www.Homa.ru in Russia.

Expert' adhesive selection process searches the available spectrum of adhesives and selects the best technology within the context of the client's criteria. This worldwide search is done impartially with regard to the adhesive suppliers, and starts with broad category screening and ends with proof testing final candidates. Factory scale or accreditation testing may also be necessary. An example from Expert’ career is that of a concrete form panel manufacturer normally overlaying his plywood with hot press-bonded phenolic thermoset paper facing. The consulting task was to structurally bond an overlay polyolefin (PP or HDPE) sheet to the plywood. This provided improved non-stick form panels and new potential for agricultural bin panels. After defining correct corona surface energy levels, several warm/cold cure adhesives were selected which met all criteria allowing the client's project to go forward. In another example a hot melt adhesive binding asphalt building paper vapor barrier to steel at elevated temperature was sought. A modified commercial formulation was developed and became an exclusive toll manufactured adhesive for the client.

Expert was a partner and technical director at Seafoam Products Ltd., Vancouver, Canada for eight years before its sale to Woodbridge Foam Inc. Prior background to this was his university training in polymer chemistry and his employment in PU systems formulation for 2 years with a California firm. Rigid, flexible, and microcellular solids were formulated.

The Seafoam startup manufactured flexible polyurethane (PU) foam on a conventional low-pressure conveyor line running at 200 lb./minute. Flexible foam products were formulated and developed by Expert in the lab and carried through to success in production for customers in furniture, carpet underpad, RV, military, and institutional markets. Both cold cure and steam cure binder formulations were developed for rebond carpet underlay. The products met prescribed codes and standards for Canada and the U.S., as well as meeting practical fatigue performance criteria demanded by the marketplace. He also developed high resilience, filled, and FR foams using MDI/TDI blends. At Seafoam he developed integral skin molded flex foams, sold as liquid systems. In addition, Expert developed flexible urethane coatings, 2 part PU plywood patch and adhesives as ancillary products for Seafoam.

Expert was employed at Borden Chemical Ltd., Vancouver, BC as a research worker engaged in development of spinning disk phenolic resin adhesives for oriented strand board (OSB), plywood, and resorcinol blends for lumber laminates. More recently, he developed phenolic-catalyst-isocyanate resin blends for OSB for disk spray application and very short press times. In the plywood business, Expert helped implement roll spreader, airless spray, foam, and curtain coater phenolic adhesive applications in various mills from 1987-97. As part of a later technical management position at Weldwood Ltd., he performed mill troubleshooting of phenolic plywood resin problems such as hot press blisters, low bond durability, and low specific adhesion.

Expert was manager of plywood quality control and research at Weldwood Ltd. (Div. of International Paper) for 12 years; Weldwood operated five plywood mills, both hardwood and softwood. Expert' activities and product engagements concerned plywood urethane synthetic patch compound test and development, new phenolic overlays for concrete form, improved veneer drying schedules, high veneer moisture operation of a plywood mill, mill quality audits, statistical data programs for the mills, QC laboratory management, sonic modulus sorting of veneer, troubleshooting bond durability and hot press blister excursions in the mills, claims settlement, litigation investigation, and due diligence technical studies for new operations acquisitions, e.g. laminated veneer lumber. In summary, he gained a rounded experience in the plywood business and its technology.

Expert notes that polyurethane reactive hot melts (PUR) have developed with assembly of recreation vehicles as a major target market during the past decade. He has been engaged in evaluation and development of hot melt and moisture cure urethane adhesives because of involvement as a technical service manager for a wood-based panel manufacturer. He tested commercial and developmental PUR
adhesives against the code acceptance standard for bond durability, and the potentials for fast processing of LVL as a result of using PUR were discussed. Expert presently maintains R&D formulation and test capabilities for reactive hot melts, and urethane adhesives for bonding wood, metal, FRP, and elastomers.

Expert operated a test laboratory for Canada's largest plywood manufacturer for 12 years, and presently consults at an academic institution's wood adhesive lab. During outsource engagements, urea, phenolic, PVA, EPI melamine, moisture cure urethane, resorcinol and isocyanate wood adhesives have been evaluated. This included adhesives for plywood, particleboard, OSB, LVL, MDF, glulam, furniture, building components, edge gluing, profile wrapping, laminating, and small wood products assembly. Expert is expert in wood adhesive codes and standards. In a typical case, a sample of questionable marine grade plywood was evaluated against US standard NSTI PS1-95 for a client. Another compared plywood laminate constructions for truck decking application. Expert sat on a technical committee for development of new wood adhesive standards for glued lumber in Canada (NLGA).

Expert frequently evaluates and corrects the bonding fault of adhesion loss. The skills and understanding that he obtained in graduate school are kept Employerby membership with and readings provided by the Adhesion Society. He uses his expertise with surface energy estimation, corona treatments, and surfactant formulation additives to correct industrial adhesion loss and specific adhesion problems on low surface energy substrates. Instrumentation and materials for measuring adhesive/surface interactions of this kind are maintained as part of the EDH adhesive laboratory. At the University of B.C. graduate school he surveyed primers and coupling agents for preventing adhesion loss in wood-thermoplastic composites. In consultancy, he has solved loss of adhesion under environmental stress or heat using reformulation and alternate adhesive selection. For example, Expert sourced and tested a PUR hot melt adhesive for a difficult water repellent treated fabric bonding application.

Expert’ industrial experience in laminated wood extends to most aspects of hot and cold press plywood, comply, LVL, glulam, resin-paper overlays, and metal-wood laminates. Expert gained early experience at Borden Chemical. This further included customer technical service and lab work with PVA edge gluing and hot melt edge banding. His experience with LVL adhesives dates to 1969 in LVL gluing studies under J. Bohlen (engineer and Greenpeace founder) at the Canadian FPL, now Forintek. Recent work in laminating wood has focused on dynamic and ultrasonic preparatory sorting of lamina by modulus grade. Expert is expert in this critical feature of contemporary glulam and LVL. Fundamentals obtained as a physics major undergraduate provide him with required background in this field. Only a handful of consultants offer a comprehensive statistical description of a species modulus profile for new mill or new species utilization. Because these structural wood products are valued according to performance modulus, the information is critical to economic planning. Expert offers a full-scale ultrasonic grade inventory and test program permitting technical assessment of LVL proposals. His resource evaluation was key in Weldwood Canada's $104 million acquisition of sunpine Forest Products Ltd (1999). These above-mentioned surveys are done with partners at the American Plywood Association and Canadian Plywood Association.

Expert’ Ph.D. thesis topic was on quantifying the orientation of strands using a probability distribution function, and then presenting a strength algorithm for modeling composite strength and modulus as a function of orientation level. The algorithm assumed ideal adhesive bonding between strands. Results of this showed that strength declines very rapidly with the orientation parameter. Lost economies in density can be recovered by careful attention to orientation in modern OSB. Further application research by Expert at Borden Chemical later showed effects on OSB strength of various fractions of strand surfaces devoid of adhesive spread. He learned to specify extra capacity adhesive disk blenders when building OSB mills. Design of OSB blenders was an outsource activity of his in the 1980s. In further consultancy work, multi-component additives at the spinning disk blender were evaluated. Isocyanate catalysts and co-reactants shortened press times dramatically. Expert is also experienced in the use of alternate OSB species. For example, dry, insect damaged, lodgepole pine was experimentally prepared in graduate school. This example predicts difficulty in the economic production of OSB from this resource unless the wood is obtained at extreme low cost. His subsequent employment at Weldwood assigned him to structural analysis and design of OSB with veneer laminate.

In his work with two-part adhesives, Expert’ experience is deepest in polyurethanes (PU), beginning in the 1970s with employment at Polymir Industries formulating foam and solid PU systems. In later work at Seafoam Products, he developed a PU two-part adhesive synthetic patch compound for plywood. This work later supported a specification and performance standard prepared by the Canadian Plywood Association for this type of compound. At Weldwood of Canada’s Technical Service Department, Expert evaluated no-formaldehyde two-part phenol-resorcinol adhesives for wood finger jointing. Such adhesives, cured with oxazolidines, permit marketers such as LEEDS to provide endorsements more easily. More recently, Expert has formulated two-part epoxies for use in bonding marble to FRP honeycomb support panels at Stoneworks of Art, Inc. Employerexamples of his two-part structural adhesive formulations include a solventless node adhesive for aluminum honeycomb HOBE blocks, and a polybutadiene urethane adhesive for EPDM rubber to rubber adhesive.

An example of ultraviolet polymer curing in Expert’ recent experience is his formulation of an extended temperature range, high impact, UV cure, PSA assembly tape for an automotive trim application. He has a thorough knowledge of the formulation principals of UV-PSAs and the associated oligomers, monomers, and photoinitiators available contemporarily. Another UV-PSA formulated by Expert is a proprietary shrink label roll feed adhesive. The cure in this case has a low temperature hot melt primary application stage followed by a secondary UV stage taking place in 1 to 2 seconds. UV energy is required to penetrate the transparent shrink film. His EDH Technical Services laboratory built special UV irradiation equipment for these projects. This versatile radiation cure conveyor equipment permits a wide range of UV cure adhesives and coatings to be developed.

Emulsion and water solution adhesives have an eminent place in Expert’ repository of skills and experience. As a Borden Chemical employee he tailored PVA adhesives to nonstructural applications on wood, metals, and textiles. During his Borden Chemical employment, he also completed competitive evaluations of emulsion polymer isocyanate (EPI) adhesives made by Ashland Specialties. More recently (2002), he prescribed EPI adhesives for a client who was structurally bonding veneer by cold press methods. He has also done some basic work in formulating EPI adhesives. Expert has a comprehensive knowledge base in solution- and colloidal-based phenolic and urea adhesives. This is founded on 12 years as technical manager for Weldwood of Canada, specializing in adhesives and wood technology. Water-soluble phenolic plywood adhesives have been a pillar of his support to long-time consulting clients. Expert recently formulated a high-performance water-based epoxy adhesive as an aluminum honeycomb node adhesive for aerospace and marine applications. His working knowledge of Pemulen polyacrylate emulsifiers played a role in these epoxy formulations.

Expert’ most recent (2003-4) adhesive film task was bonding decorative wood veneer to 1.5 mm-thick anodized aluminum sheet. The architectural panel product was previously laminated using wet PVA adhesive, having no water resistance and hot press blister problems. The full range of contemporary thermoplastic polymer films was surveyed in lab screen testing; this included polyolefins, polyesters, polyurethanes, and polyamides. Success was found with paper-saturated thermoset resin films such as phenolic and melamine types used in his previous work in bonding thin veneer without color bleed-through. Another of Expert’ (2003) adhesive film material projects completed an evaluation and adhesive selection for textile fabric laminated to polyurethane foam. These adhesives tasks are often best solved by guided trial and error because of the complex interactions between melt flow, wetting, surface affinity, and polymer durability. His experience and broad adhesives background helps bring the adhesive selection search projects to timely conclusions.

As a consultant to Westlam Industries Ltd., a plywood maufacturer, Expert designed and tested several methods for structurally bonding polyethylene, polypropylene, and FRP sheet overlay to plywood panel products. He completed a conceptual research project in 2001-02, designing and testing adhesives for electron beam cure at 5-cm depth within structural wood laminates. UV and peroxide cures were also developed for this acrylate hybrid structural wood adhesive.Developed several advanced pressure sensitive adhesives for Avery Dennison Corp., Painseville Ohio, in outsource contracts 2003-05.He formulated and tested a clear epoxy adhesive for bonding FRP honeycomb backing to marble veneer for Stoneworks of Art, Miami, FL., 2003.
Node adhesives was defined for 2 makers of aerospace aluminum honeycomb. Epoxy and phenolic toughening stratgies were studied.Other examples of his adhesive selection, sourcing, optimizing, formulation, and test projects from 2002-2005 include:
A high temperature PUR adhesive was selected and tested for bonding water repellent fabric to flexible PU foam for Sitonit Corp., Anaheim, CA;
A thermosetting phenolic film adhesive for bonding aluminum sheet to wood veneer was selected and tested for Ceilings Plus, Los Angeles, CA; and,
A special high temperature hot melt adhesive was formulated for bonding asphalt paper to expanded metal at Dietrich Industries, McDonough. GA.