Effect of an anhydride excess on the curing kinetics and dynamic-mechanical properties of synthetic and biogenic epoxy resins

ALTUNA, FACUNDO I.; RICCARDI, CARMEN C.; MARÍN QUINTEROS, DIANA; RUSECKAITE, ROXANA A.; STEFANI, PABLO M.

International Journal of Polymer Science

Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2019 vol. 2019 p. 5029153 - 5029153

This work analyzes the effect of the anhydrideexcess on the non-isothermal curing kinetics and on the final properties of asynthetic and a bio-based epoxy resins. Diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA)and epoxidized soybean oil (ESO) were crosslinked usingmethyltetrahydrophthalic anhydride (MTHPA) as curing agent and1-methylimidazole (1MI) as initiator. It was shown that the ESO/MTHPA/1MIsystem reacts slower than the DGEBA/MTHPA/1MI system, giving place to a moresignificant evaporation of the curing agent during the reaction. As a result,an excess of anhydride improves the final thermal properties of theESO/MTHPA/1MI network, contrary to the behavior observed for DGEBA/MTHPA/1MI.The knowledge of the kinetics of the curing process and the optimal amount ofcuring agent for each system is of critical importance for a more efficientprocessing of these materials.