CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Fluorine containing networks were synthesized using Diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and Jeffamine D230. Two stage curing was used. In a first step a known excess of one Jeffamine D230 was reacted with a fluorinated epoxy, in the second step DGEBA was added in final stoichiometric ratio R=1 (epoxy /amine). Reaction products were characterized by FTIR, GPC and DSC, also a model system using PGE as epoxy was used for this purpose. Different properties of final materials were analyzed. Water absorption and static contact angle of fluorinated networks were measured and compared with neat system. Friction coefficient of the fluorinated materials were measured according to ASTM D 1894 01 using a Universal Testing Machine INSTRON 4467. The surface fluorine enrichment was measured by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and correlated with static contact angle measurements. Phase separation was observed in the mixtures monomer/fluorinated monomer before starting the second step. With the aim of achieving one-phase system a miscibility curve was experimentally obtained. Increasing the weight percent of fluorinated monomer leads to an increase in the temperature required to generate a one-phase mixture. In order to reduce the curing temperature in the second step 10 wt% Toluene was used as solvent for the samples. Static contact angle measurements using water and bromonaftalene as probe liquids are shown. The increase of the weight percent of fluorine leads to an increase in contact angle. Friction coefficient preliminary results showed a remarkable lowering of the friction coefficient of networks containing only 3 to 5 wt % F. Water absorption curves of modified networks showed remarkable differences from neat system. XPS measurements showed surface fluorine enrichment respect to the values expected from mass balance. The presence of CH2, CF2 and CF3 moieties is also evidenced