| Abstract: | A commercial epoxy resin, consisting of a mixture of diepoxides based on diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) and containing an epoxidized polypropylene glycol as reactive diluent, was characterized by 1HNMR, FTIR, SEC, and chemical analysis. The kinetics of the cure with ethylenediamine (EDA) was catalyzed by the (OH) groups present in a large amount in the commercial formulation. A second order kinetic behavior gave an accurate fitting of results obtained by different experimental techniques (DSC in dynamic and isothermal modes and SEC in the pregel stage). The activation energy was E = 59.1 kJ/mol (14.1 kcal/mol), in very close agreement with values reported for the catalytic mechanism of the DGEBA-EDA polymerization. From the gel conversion and the critical stoichiometric ratio for samples containing an epoxy excess it was found that the average functionality of epoxidized species was f = 1.58. |
