| Abstract: | The relation between the structure and viscoelastic properties of the epoxy resins prepared from o-cresol novolacs was studied. Our model epoxy resins were two kinds of epoxy compounds synthesized from three-nuclei and four-nuclei o-cresol novolacs. In addition to these models, a commercially available o-cresol novolac-type epoxy resin was also studied. Each of the three epoxy compounds was cured with one of three kinds of novolacs, which were starting materials of the above-mentioned epoxy resins. Characteristic properties of the cured resins, such as glass transition temperature (Tg), average molecular weight between crosslinking points (M¯c), and front factor (?) were obtained. It was concluded that the number of functional groups contained in the curing system almost dominated the viscoelastic properties of the cured resins. |
