China Foundry (Feb 2011)
Optimization of tensile strength for new type acetone-urea-formaldehyde furan resin using uniform design
Abstract
In this study, the 24 h tensile strength of new type acetone-urea-formaldehyde furan resin (nitrogen content 3%) was investigated by uniform design optimization. Four independent variables such as acetone : formaldehyde molar ratio (mol/mol), solution pH value, reaction temperature (℃) and reaction time (min) were considered in the experiments. U*13(134) uniform design was employed and the equation of 24 h tensile strength model was obtained after 13 experimentations. The 24 h tensile strength was optimized by applying single factor experiments and stepwise non-linear regression analysis. Minitab (Minitab 15 trial version) and MATLAB (R2010a trial version) were used for data analysis. The t-value and p-value indicate that the major impact factors include the interaction effect of solution pH value and reaction temperature (X2X3), the linear terms of acetone : formaldehyde molar ratio (X1), reaction time (X4) followed by the square effects of acetone/formaldehyde molar ratio (X1X1). The optimized results were achieved with the acetone: formaldehyde molar ratio (mol/mol) at 3:1, solution pH value at 6.0, reaction temperature at 70 ℃, and reaction time at 140 min, respectively. This method can not only significantly reduce the number and cost of the tests, but also provide a good experimental design strategy for the development of furan resin. The investigation shows that the predicted results of 24 h tensile strength are consistent well with the experimental ones.
