| Abstract: | Monoepoxy phenyl glycidyl ether, curing agent p-chloroaniline, and the substituted urea type accelerator Monuron were used as a model system for studying the amine cure of epoxies. Reactions were carried out at 120°C with amine to epoxy equivalent rations of 0.25 and 1.0 Reaction mixtures were analyzed primarily by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography. Three types of reactions occur; simple amine addition to epoxy, homopolymerization of epoxy, and epoxy polymerization involving the addition products. In the absence of accelerator the reaction involved simple addition. With the accelerator, there was competition between addition and polymerization, the balance depending on the amine to epoxy equivalent ratio. Both addition and polymerization were important for a ratio of 1, but polymerization far outweighed addition for a ratio of 0.25. |
