Application of the half-width kinetic method on the amine-initiated cross-linking of an epoxy resin with cyclic anhydrides

Abstract

The utility of a non-isothermal kinetic method—the half-width method—is demonstrated in the determination of the activation energy for amine-initiated cross-linking reactions of the epoxy resin diglycidylether of bisphenol-A with three different cyclic anhydrides: succinic, maleic and cis-1,2-cyclohexanedicarboxylic anhydrides. Triethylamine was employed as an initiator. The cross-linking reactions were kinetically followed by differential scanning calorimetry at various temperature scanning rates. The half-width method furnished values for the energy of activation in the range 60–100 kJ mol −1. These values are similar to those obtained by applying the well-known non-isothermal multiple-scanning rate methods of Kissinger and Osawa but differ significantly from the ones obtained by applying the single-rate method of Barret.