Amine functional aniline furfuraldehyde condensate cured epoxy resin

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the curing efficiency of amine functional aniline furfuraldehyde condensate (AFAFFC) for diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) resin to achieve toughness, chemical resistance, etc.Design/methodology/approachTo study curing reaction, the curing agent AFAFFC is synthesised first from the reaction of aniline and furfuraldehyde in acid medium and characterised by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis, elemental analysis, concentration of primary and secondary amine analysis. Then, equimolecular mixture of AFAFFC and DGEBA is subjected to curing reaction and the reaction is followed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis. The kinetic studies of this curing reaction, mechanical properties, dynamic mechanical analysis and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of cured epoxy are also reported.FindingsThe DSC analysis shows the complete exotherms of effective curing reaction indicating the efficiency of AFAFFC as curing agent for DGEBA resin. The kinetic studies reveal that the curing reaction is first order. Mechanical properties reflect the brittleness of cured matrix and TGA shows that the cured matrixes are stable up to around 240°C.Research limitations/implicationsThe curing agent AFAFFC has been synthesised by using aniline and furfuraldehyde. By changing amine and aldehyde, other curing agents could be synthesised and the curing efficiency of these for epoxy resin could also be studied.Originality/valueThe method for curing study of epoxy resin (DGEBA) is novel and relevant as the cured products have high performance applications in protective coatings and adhesives for most substrates.