Synthesis, characterization and cure behavior of phenol-crotonaldehyde-resorcinol resins

Phenol-crotonaldehyde-resorcinol (PCR) resins were synthesized by base-catalyzed condensation reaction of phenol, crotonaldehyde, and resorcinol. Three different bases utilized for condensation reaction were sodium hydroxide, hexamethylenetetramine (hexa) and liquid ammonia. The NaOH catalyzed resins were found to be thermoplastic in nature, while hexa- and liq. NH3 catalyzed resins showed thermoset behavior. Effect of varying mole ratio of phenol, crotonaldehyde and resorcinol was studied to investigate the curing and thermoset behavior of the synthesized resins. The average molecular weight of the resins was determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). All synthesized resins were characterized by various analytical techniques such as FT-IR, NMR, TGA, DSC and FE-SEM/EDX.