Unsaturated polyester resin: kinetics of the cross-linking reaction by pulsed NMR

Summary Pulsed NMR at 20 MHz has been used to monitor the time course of the intermediate-final stage of the radical crosslinking reaction (cure of unsaturated polyester-styrene resins.) The measurement of Spin lattice relaxation time T₁ allowed us to follow the hardening process having as a parameter the loss of general mobility of the system at the molecular level.The degree of cure as a function of time, the kinetic constant as well as the activation energy for the crosslinking reaction in isothermal conditions has been evaluated using the semiempirical kinetic equation proposed by Kamal and coworkers. The activation energy was estimated to be 13.6 Kcal per mole of double bonds in the components.