Binders and materials made therewith

A method of making a thermal or acoustical fiberglass insulation product, comprising:

• a) providing fiberglass fibers selected from mineral fibers and glass fibers;
• b) disposing onto the fiberglass fibers a curable composition comprising reactants including (i) an amine reactant and (ii) a carbohydrate reactant, wherein:
• the carbohydrate reactant is a reducing sugar, a carbohydrate that yields one or more reducing sugars in situ under thermal curing conditions, or a combination thereof, and
• the amine reactant comprises an amine base selected from a primary amine NH2R1 and a secondary amine NHR1R2, or an ammonium salt of one or more polycarboxylic acids, wherein the ammonium salt includes an ammonium ion selected from +NH3R1 and +NH2R1R2,
• where R1 and R2 are each independently selected in NHR1R2 and +NH2R1R2, R1 is selected from alkyl, cycloalkyl, alkenyl, cycloalkenyl, and heterocyclyl, each of which is substituted by at least one group selected from aminoalkyl, amide, nitrile, amino, dialkylamino, acylamino and combinations thereof, and R2 is selected from alkyl, cycloalkyl, alkenyl, cycloalkenyl, heterocyclyl, aryl, and heteroaryl, each of which may be optionally substituted;
• and
• c) thermally curing the curable composition disposed on the fiberglass fibers so as to provide the thermal or acoustical fiberglass insulation product, said fiberglass fibers being present in the fiberglass insulation product in the range from about 80% to about 99% by weight.