Investigation of the cure kinetics of an epoxy resin by advanced isoconversional and model-fitting methods

Abstract

The curing behavior of a high viscosity epoxy based resin used for pipe lining was studied by non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Kinetics of the curing reaction were investigated by model fitting and model-free methods. Kamal model was selected as an appropriate model for fitting method. The parameters of this model was evaluated by genetic algorithm and an advanced isoconversional method was used in model-free method. Finally the ability of these models in prediction of a non-isothermal curing behavior was analyzed. The results showed that the isoconversional method was as effective as Kamal model and has good adoption to the experimental data.