Relationship between Network Morphology and Properties of Commercial Vinylester Resins

EXEQUIEL S. RODRIGUEZ; MAIDER LARRAÑAGA; IÑAKI MONDRAGÓN; ANALÍA VÁZQUEZ

JOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE

Wiley Publishers

Lugar: Haboken; Año: 2006 vol. 100 p. 3895 - 3903

0021-8995

Two commercial vinylester resins: Derakane 411-350 and Momentum were characterized.  In spite of the large quantity of papers in the literature about the vinylester resins, there are few experimental results about the Momentum vinylester resin.  The effect of the styrene content on the mechanical properties and morphological structure was studied.  It was found that the increase of styrene content produces a network with low storage modulus in the rubber state and glass transition temperature.  The apparent average molecular weight between crosslink points, Mc, and Tg values are slightly higher for Derakane 411-350 than for Momentum.  FTIR spectra and molecular weight distribution are similar. However, Momentum resin is tougher than Derakane 411-350 and this may be due to the closer structure at fully cured state.  Atomic force microscopy was obtained for each cured resin and confirms the difference in nano-structure.  The main reason of the differences in the developed structure was the use of accelerator that has influence on the final morphology