Iman Naseri - Polymer Engineering Department, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat ModaresUniversity , Tehran, Iran.
Ali Kazemi - Polymer Engineering Department, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat ModaresUniversity , Tehran, Iran.
Ahmad Reza Bahramian - Polymer Engineering Department, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat ModaresUniversity , Tehran, Iran.
Mehdi Razzaghi Kashani - Polymer Engineering Department, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat ModaresUniversity , Tehran, Iran.

Nanostructured phenolic foams are obtained by low temperature aqua-sol-gel polymerization of resorcinol and formaldehyde [1]. Low temperature polymerization (longpreparation time) and relatively high cost of resorcinol are main disadvantages of this method [2]. The main reasons for low temperature polymerization are prevention of solvent evaporation and solution blowing (phenolic releases volatiles during cure). To overcome these disadvantages, in this work a novelprocess for high temperature sol-gel polymerization of commercial low cost novolac resin instead of resorcinol monomer was developed and the effects of curing temperature on mechanical properties of prepared foams were investigated.