Development and Characterisation of Phenolic Foams with Phenol-Formaldehyde-Chestnut Tannins Resin

With the depletion of fossil resources, tannin extracts can be a natural alternative to some synthetic products. Hydrolysable chestnut tannin extracts have been used to partially replace phenol in PF resins for phenolic rigid foams. Phenol-formaldehyde-chestnut tannin (PFT) phenolic foams were initially made from copolymerized PFT resins of different molar ratio. The PFT foams so prepared were tested for thermal conductivity, these being slightly worse than that of pure PF foams; and for mechanical and water absorption, these two properties being better than those of pure PF foams. Indeed, PF resins represent an important part of synthetic resins. They are used in different fields of application such as in phenolic foams or for the preparation of particleboard. So it is important to work on the possibility of going green with these resins.