Patent ID: 6906130

Claim:
A substantially infinitely water-dilutable aqueous resole resin solution having a tetradimer content below about 23% by weight of resin solids and being suitable for making a binder composition for preparing glass fiber products, said resole resin comprising the base catalyzed reaction product, at a reaction temperature below about 60° C., of (i) a novolac resin and (ii) formaldehyde in an amount sufficient to establish a cumulative F:P mole ratio for said resole resin of at least 3.5:1, in order to favor methylolation of dimers present in the novolac resin during production of the resole resin, said resole resin having an amount of free formaldehyde of above 16 wt. % of resin solids and an amount of free phenol below about 1.5 wt. % of resin solids.