Correlating phenolic resin chemical structure with thermo-mechanical properties

This project will run in parallel with other DSTL funded work predicting the impact of moisture absorption in phenolic resins and phenolic resin based composites. One of the issues with this work is a lack of understanding of phenolic resin properties from a fundamental and systematic point of view. A series of phenolic resins will be made with varying phenol to formaldehyde ratios resulting in samples with varying properties. These will then be tested to understand the link between the basic chemical structure and the properties of the final resin. This will be followed by preparing composite samples of a specific variety to see how the fibres affect the phenolic resin chemistry. The project will also involve using the data obtained as input to and validation for a hybrid model for both polymer and polymer composite properties.