| Abstract: | The curing reaction of furan resins was monitored through the exothermic heat of reaction by means of a simple technique. p-Toluene sulphonic acid dissolved in acetone was used to catalyse the curing reaction. A ‘cure rate index’, defined as the maximum temperature rise per unit time per unit mass of the resin, was used as a measure of the rate of cure. The index value increases exponentially with the catalyst concentration. Interestingly, for the same catalyst concentration the index value also increases significantly with the period of ageing of the catalyst solution. A method is developed for deriving the activation energy for the curing reaction from the exothermic heat data for non-isothermal cure. The activation energy is found to increase with resin viscosity and to decrease exponentially with increasing catalyst concentration. Quantitative expressions are derived relating activation energy with catalyst concentration. |
