Melamine Terms Links

The first synthetic plastics were the phenol-formaldehyde resins introduced by Baekeland in 1907 [1], Melamine and urea also react with formaldehyde to form intermediate methylol compounds which condense to cross-linked polymers much like phenol-formaldehyde resins. Paper, cotton fabric, wood flour or other forms of cellulose have long been used to reinforce these methylol-functional polymers. Methylol groups react with hydroxyl groups of cellulose to form stable ether linkages to bond filler to polymers. Cellulose is so compatible with these resins that no one thought of an interface between them, and the term reinforced composites was not even used to describe these reinforced systems. 

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