STUDIES ON APPARENT KINETICS AND RHEOLOGICAL BEHAVIOR OF EPOXY/ACRYLATE IPNS AS VACUUM PRESSURE IMPREGNATION RESINS

Abstract

The apparent kinetics and cure behavior of novel interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) based on cycloaliphatic epoxy resin (CER) and tri-functional acrylate have been investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The results of DSC measurements show that the curing reaction of the TMPTMA component is much earlier than that of the CER component, which can lead to the formation of the IPNs. In contrast to neat anhydride-CER system, the anhydride-CER/TMPTMA systems exhibit relatively lower curing temperatures. The activation energy for initiating the reaction of the anhydride-CER system slightly increases, whereas the activation energy for propagating the reaction markedly reduces during the full IPNs formation. The FT-IR spectroscopic changes are interpreted in terms of curing mechanism of CER and TMPTMA components. The extent of reaction is calculated from FT-IR absorption bands, which depends on the reactive group concentration. The experimental results of FT-IR measurements are in good agreements with those of DSC measurements. The rheological behavior of anhydride-CER/TMPTMA systems during IPNs formation is studied in this paper. It is confirmed that the introduction of TMPTMA monomer into anhydride-epoxy resin has significant effects on the rheological behavior of the system.