Curing Process and Heat-Resistance of Polyethersulfone Toughened Epoxy Resins

Abstract

In order to improve the toughness of epoxy resin, hydroxyl-terminated polyethersulfone (PES) with various amounts (0 wt.%, 5 wt.%, 10 wt.%, 15 wt.%, 20 wt.%) were added to bisphenol A epoxy resin (DER331)/ curing agent DETDA (E100) systems, and the influence of PES contents on curing process and heat-resistance was studied. Non-isothermal DSC was used to determine the curing process of uncured DER331/E100/PES systems at heating rate of 2°C/min, 5°C/min, 7°C/min, 10°C/min and 15°C/min separately, and the apparent activation energy was calculated based on Kissinger method. The morphology of the etched cured DER331/E100/PES systems with different PES contents was observed by SEM. The heat-resistance of these systems was investigated by DSC and TGA. The results showed that with the increasing of PES content the curing exothermic peak, the heat of curing reaction, the initial and final curing temperature all decreased at the first and then increased, indicating that when the PES content was low (5 wt.%, 10 wt.%), PES can facilitate the curing process, while, when PES content up to 15 wt.%, PES can prevent or weaken the curing reaction. SEM results indicated that the phase structure changed drastically depending on the PES content. The systems with 5 wt.% and 10 wt.% PES were epoxy-rich phase, with 15 wt.% PES was co-continuity phase, and with 20 wt.% PES showed complete phase inversion (PES rich phase). The glass transition temperature and thermo gravimetric analysis demonstrated that the addition of PES can increase the heat resistance of cured DER331/E100/PES systems.