JP2005089538A - Molding compound using japanese lacquer and vegetable fiber, and japanese lacquer/vegetable fiber molded article obtained using the molding compound - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a molding compound of natural material composed of Japanese lacquer/vegetable fibers suitable for mass production of moldings such as tableware and fixtures, and to provide moldings obtained by molding the material. <P>SOLUTION: Japanese lacquer and vegetable fibers are mixed and kneaded at a weight ratio of 1:9-6:4, and the mixture is heated at a temperature of 90-160°C for 30-120 minutes to thermally polymerize part of urushiol. Then, the resulting product is pulverized to obtain a molding compound which is in a dry state in an ordinary temperature and can be compression-molded. The molding compound is compression-molded in a mold at a temperature of 120-180°C under a pressure of 15-40 MPa to obtain a compression-molded article of Japanese lacquer/vegetable fibers. The molding compound of natural material composed of Japanese lacquer/vegetable fibers is suitable for mass production of moldings such as tableware and fixtures. It has stable quality, is easy in handling and has no fear of producing irritation to skin with Japanese lacquer. The molding compound has a touch of the natural material. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a molding material using lacquer and a lacquer / plant fiber molding obtained using the molding material.

  Urushiol (catechol derivative), the main component of lacquer, is a resin liquid that exudes from lacquer wood. Normal temperature / high humidity (15-25 ° C) due to the action of a small amount of enzyme (laccase) contained in lacquer. / 65 to 85% RH) to cure by oxidative polymerization. In lacquerware, which is a lacquered product, the lacquer film formed in this way mainly on the surface of wooden materials protects the substrate and presents a unique deep color tone. It has been used for crafts.

  However, the manufacturing process of lacquered products is a work that requires a lot of processes such as undercoating, intermediate coating, topcoating, etc. The raw lacquer itself is expensive. Moreover, the processing form of the wood used as the material of the lacquer ware is not necessarily suitable for mass production in the case of tableware or the like, and the production scale of lacquer ware and their uses are limited. Furthermore, the lacquer coating work causes skin diseases (lacquer rashes) caused by allergic reactions caused by urushiol to workers.

Petroleum synthetic materials such as phenolic resin, urea resin, and polycarbonate that are suitable for compression molding are used for general tableware as mass-produced products in recent years, but these materials release components that are toxic to the human body. Some of them are suspected of eluting environmental hormones, and their use has become a social problem. Therefore, using lacquer and wood and other plant fiber materials, which are natural resources, as materials for these dishes, development of processing technology that can obtain mass-produced products equivalent to conventional lacquerware in terms of appearance and quality is the use of lacquer It is considered useful for the expansion of the industry and the development of related industries.
Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 56-27394 JP 58-104947 A

  Patent Document 1 discloses “a method of manufacturing a lacquer ware base obtained by mixing dry lacquer powder obtained by impregnating and drying a lacquer liquid into cotton and pulverizing and molding resin and then heat-compressing the lacquer liquid and cotton (lacquer). It is described that the cost can be reduced by using together with the waste of cotton cloth used for the filtration and mass production by die molding is possible. However, in this case, since the powder mixture obtained by natural drying from the lacquer liquid containing moisture and cotton is used as it is, the operation of heat compression molding with a mold at high pressure and high temperature is not always easy. In addition, the urushiol active group still remains in the mixed powder of the lacquer liquid obtained in this way, so that the storage stability is lacking, and when used for mass production, the quality varies and its management is difficult. And the obtained molded product is not sufficient in terms of quality such as strength and water resistance. Furthermore, there is a danger of causing lacquer rash to many workers involved in transportation, storage and molding processes. Patent Document 2 describes “lacquer ware body that is heat-press-molded into an arbitrary shape using a mixture of 20 to 40% by volume of lacquer and the remainder being made of wood flour”. However, since a mixture of lacquer and wood powder is used as it is in a molding machine as in Patent Document 1, the problem of variation in quality of molding materials and fear of lacquer rash has not been solved.

  The object of the present invention is to further expand the use of lacquer, which has been used for painting processing of tableware and utensils as a lacquer ware, and use only natural materials that are free from the effects of chemical substances on the human body and environmental pollution. The object of the present invention is to provide a mass-produced product, and in particular to provide a stable and easy-to-handle molding material suitable for these purposes and a molded product using this material.

  The object of the present invention is to mix urushi and plant fibers in a weight ratio of 1: 9 to 6: 4, knead, and heat urushiol at a temperature of 90 to 180 ° C. for 30 to 120 minutes with stirring. This is achieved by a molding material obtained by partial thermal polymerization and then crushing the product into a compressible powder that is dry at ambient temperature (Claim 1).

  In the present invention, the powdery molding material according to claim 1 is compression-molded under heating at a temperature of 120 to 180 ° C. and a pressure of 15 to 40 MPa in a mold. A molded body is obtained (claim 3).

  In the present invention, a urushiol monomer is partially thermally polymerized and cured by kneading a mixture of lacquer and plant fiber within the range of the predetermined ratio at a temperature and time within the range. In this state, the laccase in the lacquer is deactivated, and the powder of the molding material obtained by pulverizing the laccase is stable against moisture and the like, and is dry to the touch at room temperature. Therefore, this molding material is easy to store and handle, and a constant quality material can always be supplied to the molding process. In addition, it is preferable to use the refined powder for the plant fiber (Claim 2), thereby obtaining a homogeneous kneaded product in which the lacquer is uniformly and sufficiently immersed.

  Further, when compression molding is performed under heating in a mold using this molding material, the handling and filling operation into the mold is extremely easy, and the compound is sufficiently dried in the preparation process and Since the polymerization curing reaction of urushiol has already partially progressed, the molding during heating proceeds smoothly, and the molding time is shortened to improve mass productivity. Furthermore, since the laccase is substantially inactivated by heating during the preparation of the molding material, the workers involved in handling the molding material composed of lacquer / plant fibers and the molding process, or the user of the molded product There is no risk of causing lacquer rash.

  The molded body thus obtained has sufficient characteristics in terms of strength, water resistance and the like, and can be used as it is. However, by applying lacquer coating to the surface, conventional lacquer ware Tableware and utensils having the same aesthetics and water resistance can be obtained (claim 4). In this case, since one of the main components constituting the molded body is lacquer, the familiarity of the lacquer coating and the material during finishing is very good, and a complicated grounding process in a conventional lacquer ware can be omitted. Further, by further heat-treating the obtained molded body, the curing becomes more complete and the quality such as water resistance is improved (Claim 5).

  The molding material of the present invention comprises a kneaded blend of lacquer and plant fibers (hereinafter referred to as lacquer / plant fiber compound), and the molded product as the final product is natural due to the combination of lacquer and plant fibers as the main components. It becomes the thing provided with the touch of plant fiber (for example, woody material etc.). As the plant fiber, for example, in the case of wood fiber, cellulose of general tree species such as cedar, cypress, tsuga, drill, pine, and spruce is targeted. In addition to wood materials, plant fibers such as bamboo, reed, and cotton are also used. It is also possible to use cocoons containing these. As the particle size of the vegetable fiber powder, 10 to 120 mesh is suitable. For example, when the plant fiber is refined by a grinder, it becomes a fibrillated fiber, and the lacquer is easily permeated during kneading to obtain a uniform lacquer / plant fiber compound.

The compounding ratio of lacquer and plant fiber is 1: 9 to 6: 4 by weight.
If the weight ratio of lacquer / vegetable fiber is below this range, the strength of the molded product obtained by compression molding is low, causing problems in terms of water resistance. Above this range, lacquer other than lacquer impregnated into plant fiber The amount increases, the plant fibers aggregate to form a large lump, and many of them cannot be used as a molding material, resulting in poor yield.

  In the present invention, the kneaded product is heated at a temperature of 90 to 180 ° C. for 30 to 120 minutes to cause partial thermal polymerization of urushiol to dry and cure the compound. Laccase, an enzyme in lacquer, acts on urushiol to produce oxidative polymerization in the state of kneaded lacquer and vegetable fiber (Fig. 1), the degree of which is the quality, temperature / humidity, and storage time of lacquer liquid. The quality of the lacquer / plant fiber compound when used for molding varies. When this compound is heated at, for example, 120 ° C. for 90 to 120 minutes, the laccase is deactivated and does not act. Instead, the side chain of urushiol quinone is polymerized by thermal polymerization (Dilus-Alda type as shown in FIG. 2). An addition reaction is conceivable), which cures and dries the compound.

  Lacquer laccase is deactivated at a temperature of 90 to 180 ° C. and does not participate in curing, and thermal polymerization is dominant in terms of drying temperature and complete curing time. For example, a substantially constant relationship as shown in the graph of FIG. 2 was recognized. Lacquer and wood fiber compound, for example, gives complete drying at 120 ° C in 240 minutes, but the one dried for 120 minutes is dry to the touch at room temperature, and exhibits fluidity at the pressure and temperature during molding. .

  The heat treatment temperature when preparing the lacquer / plant fiber compound is 90 to 180 ° C., and if it is below this temperature range, polymerization due to heat does not appear, and if it is above this temperature range, the reaction is too fast and the quality of the compound May not be stable and may ignite due to heat generated by the reaction. The heat treatment time is set to a time when the touch-drying is started when the temperature is brought to room temperature in 30 to 120 minutes, and an appropriate time is selected depending on the heating temperature, the kind of plant fiber mixed with lacquer, the particle size, and the properties. Since laccase is inactivated at about 80 ° C., it is substantially inactivated at the above-mentioned heat treatment temperature, and there is no possibility of causing lacquer rash when the molding material is handled.

  The molding material comprising the lacquer / plant fiber compound thus obtained is used as a raw material for compression molding with a mold having an arbitrary shape. The lacquer / vegetable fiber compound as a molding material of the present invention is a powder that shows a dry-to-touch state at room temperature, and can be easily filled into a mold, and flows in a heated and pressurized state in the mold. To reproduce the viscosity. Further, since the compound is sufficiently dried in the production process, the molding by heat compression proceeds smoothly without being affected by moisture, and as a result, a uniform and dense molded body without voids can be obtained.

  Since the lacquer is already partially cured in the preparation process of the lacquer / vegetable fiber compound, the molding time in the mold is shortened accordingly, and the molding process is performed relatively quickly. The compound compression molding conditions in this case are, for example, a molding temperature of 120 to 180 ° C., a molding pressure of 15 to 40 MPa, and a molding time of 15 to 30 minutes.

If the molding temperature is 180 ° C. or higher, the lacquer / plant fiber compound will harden before sufficient pressure is developed, and the desired molded article may not be obtained. Further, due to gas generation during molding, blisters are formed on the outer surface of the molded product or nests are formed inside. If it is 120 ° C. or lower, poor curing is likely to occur, and it takes too much molding time. If the molding pressure is 15 MPa or less, the material may not be dispersed throughout the cavity of the mold, or a thick molded product may have a nest inside. On the other hand, if it is 40 MPa or more, the mold release becomes worse and it becomes difficult to take out, or the mold tends to be deformed. Molding time can be released as a setting condition of the minimum time, and it is assumed that it does not deform after release. The molded body after completion of compression molding is preferably subjected to a heat treatment after releasing and completely cured. The heat treatment conditions at this time are, for example, a heating temperature of 180 ° C. and about 30 to 120 minutes.

  The molded body thus obtained has the feel of a wood material when wood fiber is used as a plant fiber, for example, and can be used as a fixture or various industrial materials. Depending on the application that requires improved water resistance, it is preferable to further lacquer the surface. In this case, lacquer is one of the main components of the lacquer / vegetable fiber compound as the raw material of the molded body, so it is very familiar with the compound material at the time of lacquering, and various base processes in conventional coating processing are omitted. can do.

  Furthermore, when the final heat treatment is applied to the molded body thus obtained, the lacquer coating film is completely cured to improve the adhesion with the base, and the active group of urushiol disappears and the user is lost. It is thought that there is almost no risk of lacquer rash on the surface. The obtained molded body has characteristics that are comparable to or exceeding the bending strength and heat resistance of JIS standards specified for urea resin and phenol resin as tableware, and is sufficient for actual use. .

  Examples of the present invention will be described below with reference to a method for preparing a molding material and a process for producing a molded body by compression heating molding using the molding material obtained by this method.

Preparation of lacquer / plant fiber compound (wood fiber)
In this example, cedar having an average particle size of 100 mesh was used as a plant fiber material (commercially available product and finely divided by a grinder: hereinafter, wood fiber).
(Lacquer liquid)
As a lacquer liquid for mixing with the wood fiber to obtain a lacquer / wood fiber compound, the composition of urushiol 63.9%, rubber 9.7%, total nitrogen content 0.7% and moisture 25.7% I used Chinese lacquer.

The lacquer / wood fiber is mixed at the following blending ratio (weight ratio), kneaded sufficiently in an automatic mortar for about 20 minutes, and then stirred at 120 ° C. for 90 minutes in a hot air drying oven (5-10 minute intervals). ) Heated to dry. After pulverizing with a mortar, sushi / wood fiber compound of 50 to 350 μm was obtained by sieving.
(Lacquer / wood fiber mixing ratio)
(2) 1: 9; (3) 2: 8; (4) 3: 7;
(5) 4: 6; (6) 5: 5; (7) 6: 4 ((1) is outside the scope of the invention).

  By kneading, the lacquer sufficiently penetrated into the wood fiber, and by heating, the urushiol in the lacquer / wood fiber compound was thermally polymerized and cured to an intermediate stage, whereby the compound showed a dry-to-touch condition at room temperature. It was shown by IR measurement and acetone elution test that the double bond disappeared due to the polymerization of the urushiol monomer by heating.

(Lacquer rash test)
The lacquer / wood fiber compound of the present invention is cured to some extent by thermal polymerization of urushiol during its production process, so it is stable with little change over time even when stored in the atmosphere, and lacquer rashes are greatly reduced. This can be reduced, but this was verified by the following test.

  A patch test adhesive tape using a 1: 1 kneaded mixture of raw lacquer and wood fiber (A = comparative material) and further treated at 120 ° C. for 90 minutes (B = molding material of the present invention) A predetermined amount of each was attached to two different locations inside the lower arm of the same subject and left for 8 hours, after which the place where the tape was peeled off was observed. A red rash was observed on the surrounding skin, while no rash was seen on the sticking part of B.

Compound Mold Compression Molding Process The lacquer / wood fiber compound of the present invention thus obtained was compression molded with a mold. In this experiment, it was molded with a 100 mm diameter circular flat plate forming mold. A predetermined amount of the compound was placed in a normal temperature mold, and compression molding was performed for 25 minutes at a molding temperature of 140 ° C. and a molding pressure of 25 MPa, and the molded product was taken out of the mold. During molding, the heating temperature was raised step by step and the mold was degassed at each stage, but the molding was carried out very smoothly, and a dense molded body with almost no voids due to evaporation of moisture, etc. was gotten. Further, the molded body taken out from the mold was completely cured by heating at 120 ° C. for 120 minutes in a hot air drying furnace. Tables 1 and 2 show the test results of the molded products thus obtained. The bending strength of the molded body was almost satisfied with the bending strength value of the resin material for tableware in the JIS standard by selecting the type of lacquer or wood fiber, the production method of wood fiber, the wood fiber particle size and the like.

Table 1 Bending strength

Table 2 Hot water immersion test (60 ° C hot water 3 hours)

  In addition, when thermogravimetric measurement was performed to examine the heat resistance of the molded body, as shown in the graph of FIG. 4, the thermal decomposition starting temperature was 47 ° C. higher than the urea resin for tableware, and the heat resistance was excellent. It was. Moreover, the thermal decomposition start temperature is considered to be sufficiently practical as it is close to 300 ° C.

  In addition, although the said molded object can be used as it is even in the state where it shape | molded according to the use, you may give lacquering of finishing further to the surface. In this case, lacquer is one of the main components of the substrate, so it is very familiar with lacquering. Many base treatments are omitted as in the case of lacquering on conventional wood, and direct undercoating and intermediate coating are performed. And can be overcoated. Furthermore, since the substrate is not a wood material like conventional lacquerware, it can be further heated after lacquering (150 ° C / 3 minutes), which can cure the lacquer film more completely and product users Can eliminate lacquer rashes.

Comparative example

  The feature of the lacquer / plant fiber compound that is the molding material of the present invention is that this kneaded product is heated to deactivate the laccase and the urushiol in the lacquer is thermally polymerized and at least partially precured and dried. is there. This makes it possible to obtain a material that is stable in quality, easy to handle and suitable for mold forming.

  Hereinafter, the characteristics of each molded body molded under the same conditions from the molding material of the present invention composed of such a lacquer / wood fiber compound and the molding material composed of a lacquer / wood fiber mixture without heat treatment will be compared. Show. Lacquer and wood fiber (mixing ratio 1: 1) as preparation materials, preparation conditions, and molding conditions for molding materials are the same as in the examples.

  In the molding using the molding material of the present invention, the molding progressed smoothly, but in the non-heated comparative molding material, lacquer oozes out from the inner surface of the mold and adheres to the inner surface of the mold, and there is a problem in the moldability. Moreover, sufficient hardness was not reached at the time of mold release.

  Also, as shown in Table 3, in the molded product test, the molded product using the non-heated molding material has properties such as bending strength, expansion coefficient, water absorption, etc. which are not as good as those of the molded product using the molding material according to the present invention. It was enough.

Table 3 Bending strength

The molding material of the present invention is used as a material suitable for mass production of molded products made of lacquer and vegetable fibers, and the molded product obtained thereby has an application as a base material that can be easily processed by lacquer. .

It is a figure which shows the oxidative polymerization process by the laccase of urushiol. It is a figure which shows the polymerization effect process by the heating of urushiol. It is a figure which shows the relationship between the drying temperature of lacquer, and complete hardening time. It is a figure which shows the result of the thermogravimetric measurement of a molded object.

Claims (5)

  Mixing and kneading lacquer and plant fibers in a weight ratio of 1: 9 to 6: 4, heating the mixture at a temperature of 90 to 180 ° C. for 30 to 120 minutes with stirring to partially thermally polymerize urushiol, Next, a molding material obtained by pulverizing the product to obtain a compression-moldable powder in a dry state at room temperature.     The molding material according to claim 1, wherein the plant fiber is a powder having a particle size of 10 to 120 mesh.   Mixing and kneading lacquer and plant fibers in a weight ratio of 1: 9 to 6: 4, heating the mixture at a temperature of 90 to 180 ° C. for 30 to 120 minutes with stirring to partially thermally polymerize urushiol, Next, the product is pulverized to obtain a compressible powder in a dry state at room temperature, and the powder is obtained by compression molding at a temperature of 120 to 180 ° C. and a pressure of 15 to 40 MPa in a predetermined mold. Lacquer / plant fiber compression molding.     4. The lacquer / plant fiber compression molding according to claim 3, wherein the surface of the compression molding is coated with lacquer. The lacquer / plant fiber compression molding according to claim 3 or 4, wherein the compression molding is further heated to completely cure urushiol.

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