Influence of Change of Si/Al Ratio on the Synthesis of Mesoporous Aluminosilicates and Flexural Strength of Novolac Composites

Fillers used in phenol–formaldehyde resins should have high thermal stability, be cheap and do not have a negative impact on the resin crosslinking process. These features have mesoporous aluminosilicates which are used in many industries. In this work, effective and simple synthesis of mesoporous materials (with a different Si/Al ratio) from a solid source of silicon has been presented. Materials were used as fillers for phenol–formaldehyde composites. Synthesized mesoporous aluminosilicates have been characterized using Scanning electron microscopy, Energy dispersive spectrometry, Transmission electron microscopy, X-ray Difractometry, Nitrogen adsorption/desorption measurements and Inverse gas chromatography. The properties of the obtained materials are closely related to the amount of aluminum and silicon in the tested materials. All synthesized materials have a larger specific surface area than the substrates used during the synthesis. The mechanical properties of the novolac composites were tested using three-point flexural test. The composite with aluminosilicate which have the lower surface area has the highest flexural strength and it is higher than the strength of the composites with substrates.