Phenol Resin for Feedstock Recycling

Dependence of Thermal Reactivity on the Chemical Structure

Abstract

Bisphenols and phenol resins were decomposed in tetralin, typically, at 430°C. Thermal reactivity was discussed based on their chemical structures. Typically, an ortho-substituted methylene group of phenolic nuclei was cleaved easier than a para-substituted methylene group. Bisphenol-A-containing novolac and cured resins were prepared and examined in thermal reactivity and physical property. Thermal cracking of a cured bisphenol-A-formaldehyde resin gave the large yield of monomers compared to the total monomer yield in the cracking of a cured phenol-formaldehyde resin.