| Abstract: | The curing behavior of a difunctional epoxy resin/octa(aminopropyl)silsesquioxanes hybrid resin system using 4,4′′‐diaminodiphenyl sulfone as curing agent was studied. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy was used to evidence the formation of the hybrid resin and to monitor the curing process. Results showed that the reactivity of the hybrid resin system was slightly lower than that of the pristine epoxy resin. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to study the curing kinetics of the hybrid resin. The curing kinetics of the pristine and hybrid resins was analyzed by two methods: Kissinger and Flynn‐Wall‐Ozawa methods. The FTIR analysis accorded well with the results of the kinetics study. POLYM. COMPOS., 29:77–83, 2008. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers |
