| Abstract: | Thermoplastic toughened epoxy resins are widely used as matrices in modern prepreg systems.Different curing conditions play a great role in affecting the cure kinetics and phase behaviour of thermoplastic modified epoxies which further result in different mechanical properties of polymer matrix composites.Since the morphology of the cured thermoplastic/epoxy blends is directly related to the mechanical properties,it is essential to control processing conditions for obtaining desirable morphology.A polyethersulphone (PES) modified multifunctional epoxies,triglycidylaminophenol (TGAP) and tetraglycidyldiaminodiphenylmethane (TGDDM),was used for investigation.The cure kinetics and cured morphology of polymer blends heated at different heating rates and cured at different temperature were studied.It is shown that higher cure temperature and higher heating rate display similar effects in the epoxy conversion and the domain size of phase separated structure. |
