ABSTRACTKnowing of thermoset curing kinetics is essential for process development, quality control, and achieving desirable products. Hence, in this article, cure kinetics of an EPON 828 epoxy resin/dicyandiamide curing agent/diuron accelerator system is investigated. This resin system is usually used for the production of epoxy/glass fiber prepregs used in wind turbine blades. For this, differential scanning calorimetry analysis is used and the effect of temperature, weight percentage, and size of nanosilica is studied by conducting isothermal tests at several temperatures for samples with and without nanoparticles. An autocatalytic curing model is applied to describe the cure kinetic of system and then the variations in model parameters calculated by curve fitting using the MATLAB software. The results show that the increase in temperature, weight percentage of nanosilica from 0 to 6%, and surface area of nanosilica particles lead to the increase in curing rate, whereas the increase in the percentage and surface area of nanosilica particles significantly decreases total heat of reaction. At the end, the relation between each of model parameters and the total surface area of nanosilica particles, calculated by mathematical equations, is obtained. The allowable maximum surface area of nanosilica used in the mathematical equations is 12 m2 g−1. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47958.
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