Polyaniline Hydrochloride for a Novel Application: Accelerator and Filler for Phenol-Formaldehyde Resin

In this work, a study has been made of a novel application of polyaniline hydrochloride (PAn.HCl) in the field of adhesives. Different concentrations of PAn.HCl (0%, 3%, 8%, 13%, 15%, 25%, 35%, 45% and 55% w/w) were blended with phenol formaldehyde resin (resole) by mechanical mixing and the effect of the blending on the adhesive strength and gel time of resin solution was studied. It was discovered that PAn.HCl had an accelerating effect upon the curing of the resin and the curing time was found to be significantly reduced. It was also discovered that PAn.HCl can play a role as a filler in phenolic resin polymer matrices, resulting in an improvement in the mechanical properties (adhesive strength) of the prepared resins. Resole and its blends with PAn.HCl were characterized in terms of their structure, by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The room temperature d.c. electrical conductivities of resole and resole/PAn.HCl blends were studied by the conventional four-point probe method. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012