MORPHOLOGIES PROFILES GENERATED BY GRADIENT TEMPERATURE IN PMMA MODIFIED EPOXY SYSTEM

P.M. STEFANI; C.C. RICCARDI; P.M. REMIRO; I. MONDRAGON

La Habana

Congreso; SLAP2000; 2000

Firstly, a weighted amount of PMMA (Altugas GR9E, Elf Atochem)  was dissolved in dicloromethane. DER-332 (Dow Chemical) was then added to the solution. The solvent was afterwards removed; and DDM (HT-972,Ciba Geigy), in a stoichiometric amine/epoxy ratio, was added and dissolved. The final amount of PMMA in the epoxy-DDM matrix was 15 wt%. At this stage, the blend solution was transparent The curing process was performed in the heated mold show in figure 1, during six hours. Temperature profiles were applied by generation of a heat flux from the base, supported on a hot plate, and the top, cooled with water circulating inside. Three profiles (A, B and C) were generated by increasing the electrical power applied to the hot plate. Temperature along the mold wall is measured with thermocouples installed inside it, very closed to the interface metal-polymer. Poscure was achieved in an oven at 160ºC  for three hours.