Patent ID: 8399597

Claim:
A modified phenolic resin composition formed by a method comprising the steps of: a) combining a basic catalyst, formaldehyde, water and a benzene-ol to form a basic reaction mixture undergoing chemical reaction; b) terminating the chemical reaction of the reaction mixture when water tolerance of the reaction mixture is in a range of between about 300% and about 500% to thereby form an intermediate composition; and c) adding resorcinol to the intermediate composition in an amount of between 2.5% and 7.5% based on the weight of the benzene-ol combined to form the reaction mixture, whereby the resorcinol undergoes chemical reaction with the intermediate composition to form a composition that includes a resorcinol-modified phenolic resin, wherein the resorcinol-modified phenolic resin has a free formaldehyde content of between about 0.01 weight % and about 0.3 weight % of 100 g of the resin, and wherein the tensile strength of the resin composition is at least 12% to 26% greater than the tensile strength of an equivalent resin composition where the only difference is that the equivalent resin composition has not been modified with any resorcinol.