Composite materials and methods of making the same

1. A composite material comprising

a substrate material;

that is coated or impregnated with a cured or dried binder composition wherein the cured or dried binder composition is produced from an aqueous binder composition comprising:

i) polymer particles of at least one emulsion (co)polymer, chosen from A) an emulsion (co)polymer that comprises in polymerized form from 5% to 25% by weight, based on the weight of the (co)polymer, of one or more carboxy acid monomer, anhydride thereof, or salt thereof, based on the weight of the (co)polymer, or B) an emulsion (co)polymer that comprises in polymerized form from 0.1 to 5 weight percent of one or more multi-ethylenically unsaturated monomer, based on the weight of the (co)polymer, and

ii) defatted soy flour of no greater than 43 micron mesh particle size;

wherein the composite material comprises ≦40 wt. % cured or dried binder composition; and,

further wherein the binder composition comprises from 51 wt. % to 95 wt. % defatted soy flour, based on the binder composition solids.

2. The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the emulsion (co)polymer comprises in polymerized form from 10% to 20% by weight, based on the weight of the (co)polymer, of the one or more carboxy acid monomer.

3. The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the emulsion (co)polymer is comprised of from 0.1 to 5 weight percent, based on the weight of the (co)polymer, of the one or more multi-ethylenically unsaturated monomer, in polymerized form.

4. The composite material of claim 3 , wherein the one or more multi-ethylenically unsaturated monomer comprises allylmethacrylate.

5. The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the protein in the defatted soy flour is denatured or is produced from an aqueous dispersion of the protein including one or more water-soluble polymer dispersing species.

6. The composite material as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the denatured protein in the defatted soy flour is denatured with sodium bisulfite.

7. The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the aqueous binder composition further comprises lignin or lignosulfonate.

8. The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the aqueous binder composition further includes one or more crosslinking agent selected from the group consisting of glycerol, glycerol derivatives, diethanolamine, triethanolamine, pentaerythritol, hydroxy alkyl urea, urea, oxazoline, polyvinyl alcohol, zirconium metal ions, zinc metal ions, and mixtures thereof.

9. The composite material of claim 1 , wherein the substrate material is selected from the group consisting of: a polyester mat, a glass reinforcing mat, and a microglass based substrate material.

10. The composite material as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the aqueous binder composition is formaldehyde free.

11. A method for producing a composite material, said method comprising:

i) coating or impregnating a substrate material with an aqueous binder composition,

ii) removing excess of the aqueous binder composition from the substrate material, and

iii) curing or drying the aqueous binder composition on the substrate material;

wherein the aqueous binder composition comprises:

a) polymer particles of at least one emulsion (co)polymer that comprises in polymerized form from 5% to 25% by weight, based on the weight of the (co)polymer, of one or more carboxy acid monomer, anhydride thereof, or salt thereof, and

b) defatted soy flour of no greater than 43 micron mesh particle size;

wherein the composite material comprises ≦40 wt. % cured or dried binder composition; and

wherein the cured or dried binder composition comprises from 51 wt. % to 95 wt. % defatted soy flour, based on the binder composition solids.