STUDY OF CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF PHENOL BY COCONUT SHELL FLOUR IN A PHENOL FORMALDEHYDE RESIN

S.S. Inamdar, Kiran Kumar Rathod

Abstract: Phenol formaldehyde (PF) resins are usually synthetic polymer resins, based on the condensation reaction of formaldehyde with phenol. Phenol being a vital component is rarely available now and the cost of which influences the cost of the adhesive. An alternative, cheaper source of Phenol would be of great interest to all users of PF resin. World wide shortage, increase in price and future supplies of phenol for the wood based panel industries have renewed the interest in finding partial or full substitutes based on non-petroleum resources for synthetic resin adhesives. Since wood materials like flours of sal, teak, coconut etc. contain ligno cellulosic materials; can be used for the partial replacement of phenol in phenolic adhesives. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to develop and study the characteristics of a new resin synthesized by using coconut shell flour as a partial replacement for phenol in a phenol formaldehyde resin. Coconut Shell Flour (CSF) being comparatively cheaper, indigenously available, is renewable phenolic raw material and is found to be effective for partial replacement. Resin adhesive prepared from CSF of particle size -150 +250 was found to be suitable. The effect of partial replacement on properties of the resulting resin viz. tensile strength, effect of pH on polymerization time, morphology using Wide angle X-ray diffraction, SEM images of the surface morphology of pure phenol formaldehyde resin and CSF embedded resin material were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) at 10 kV with a JEOL (Japan) JSM-840A scanning electron microscope. Investigations revealed that 40-50% of phenol can be replaced by using CSF.

Keywords: Coconut Shell Flour CSF, Phenolic, Adhesive, Partial replacement, Tensile strength, Wide angle XRD

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2013.0209047