Cure Kinetics of Epoxy Resin Studied by Dynamics and Isothermal DSC Data

Abstract

Diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A(DGEBA) epoxy resin was cured withhardeners aliphatic amine triethylenetetramine (TETA). Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique was utilized to study the kinetics of cure of (DGEBA)-(TETA) system,diverse hardener/resin ratios werestudied, (5, 13and 20) phr. Isothermal as wellas dynamic experiments were carried out of the above mentioned DGEBA/TETA system with three hardener/resin ratios, and cure kinetics were investigated at four temperatures (30, 45, 60 and 80) °C using (DSC) technique. The process of isothermal cure was simulated by the diffusion model (modified Kamal’s model and four-parameter autocatalytic model. The obtainedoutcomes are in good agreement with the experimental results in the early andlate cure stages. The eventsdeclare that complete cure at 80 °C attains atthe stoichiometric ratio (13 phr).