Abstract: | Glass‐forming ability and thermal stability of novolac–phenolic resin with different contents of curing agent hexamethylenetramine (HMTA) are investigated. Melt fragility (Mg) and Tgd (Tgd = Tg/Td) are proposed to characterize glass‐forming ability and thermal stability of the novolac–phenolic resin, respectively. It is found that Mg has a negative linear relationship with Tgd. The lower Mg represents the better glass‐forming ability of liquid phenolic resin while the higher Tgd represents the better thermal stability of the fully cured phenolic resin. Further more, Mg establishes a kinetic relationship between glass‐forming ability of liquid uncured and thermal stability of fully cured novolac–phenolic resin in terms of comparing with Tgd. POLYM. COMPOS., 2012. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers |