When thermoplastic resins such as polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) are selected as wood adhesives to bond wood particles (fibers, chips, veneers) by using the hot-pressing technique, the formaldehyde emission issue that has long existed in the wood-based panel industry can be effectively solved. In this study, in general, thermoplastic-bonded wood-based panels presented relatively higher mechanical properties and better water resistance and machinability than the conventional urea–formaldehyde resin-bonded wood-based panels. However, the bonding structure of the wood and thermoplastic materials was unstable at high temperatures. Compared with the wood–plastic composites manufactured by the extruding or injection molding methods, thermoplastic-bonded wood-based panels have the advantages of larger size, a wider raw material range and higher production efficiency. The processing technology, bonding mechanism and the performance of thermoplastic-bonded wood-based panels are comprehensively summarized and reviewed in this paper. Meanwhile, the existing problems of this new kind of panel and their future development trends are also highlighted, which can provide the wood industry with foundations and guidelines for using thermoplastics as environmentally friendly adhesives and effectively solving indoor pollution problems.

The practical problem of free formaldehyde pollution in the plywood industry is that polyethylene films have been shown to be able to replace some urea–formaldehyde resins for wood adhesives. To broaden the variety of thermoplastic plywood, reduce the hot-press temperature, and save energy consumption, an ethylene–vinyl acetate (EVA) film was selected as a wood adhesive to manufacture a novel wood–plastic composite plywood via hot-press and secondary press processes. The effects of the hot-press and secondary press processes at different levels on the physical–mechanical properties of EVA plywood (tensile shear strength, 24 h water absorption, and immersion peel performance) were evaluated. The results showed that the properties of the resulting plywood using the EVA film as an adhesive could meet the type III plywood standard. The optimum hot-press time was 1 min/mm, the hot-press temperature was 110–120 °C, the hot-press pressure was 1 MPa, the dosage film was 163 g/m², the secondary press time was 5 min, the secondary press pressure was 0.5 MPa, and the secondary press temperature was 25 °C. EVA plywood can be used in indoor environments.