studying room temperature curing of phenolic resin and their composites

phenolic resins are synthetic low molecular weight thermoset resins which are polymerized and cured to higher molecular weights by condensation method. these resins have high weathering resistance, high oxidative thermal properties and good chemical resistance. phenolic resins can be cured thermally or by acid curing. the most common method of curing phenolic resin is by thermal curing that takes place in the range of 130-180oc. at room temperature, however, phenolic resins are cured by acid catalysts. in this paper, room temperature curing of resol phenolic resin by para toluene sulphonic acid has been investigated. the acid quantity has been determined for room temperature curing of two types of resols to achieve a reasonable hardness and gelation time. temperature curing and thermal stability of respective resins have been investigated by dsc and tga, respectively. a glass-phenolic composite plate has been prepared and cured by these two methods. the results show that the optimum amount of acid is 20% by weight. optimum mechanical properties, chemical resistance and thermal properties have been achieved for acid cured system. the hot cured resin, however, has better properties.