Thermal degradation of epoxy–amine-resol blends

D.PUGLIA; L. B. MANFREDI; A.VÁZQUEZ; J.M.KENNY

Polymer Analysis and Degradation

Nova Science Publishers; Jiménez,A. & Zaikov, G.E., Eds.

Lugar: Huntington, New York, USA; Año: 2000; p. 105 - 121

The effect of the addition of different epoxy resins on the thermal stability of phenolic resols is investigated. Blends with different weight percentage of three epoxy resins (cured with amine hardeners) are studied by thermal gravimetric analysis and cone calorimetry. The fire resistance of the epoxy - resol blends are also investigated.The thermal degradation of phenolic resols is characterized by a complex mechanism with at least two different processes (chain scission and crosslinking) which lead to the production of a stable and resistant char structure. On the other hand, the epoxy resins studied, either aliphatic or aromatic, degrade in a single step. The degradation mechanism can be modeled by an autocatalytic radical type equation and the model results are well compared with experimental data.