Studies on the effect of epoxide equivalent weight of epoxy resins on thermal,mechanical, and chemical characteristics of vinyl ester resins

Three samples of vinyl ester resins (VERs) were synthesized using bisphenol‐A‐based epoxy resins of varying epoxide equivalent weights (EEW) and acrylic acid in presence of triphenylphosphine as a catalyst at 80 ± 2°C. The cresyl glycidyl ether was used as reactive diluent during the synthesis of VERs. A suitable reaction mechanism was proposed and discussed for the reactions involving epoxide group and acid groups. This was further confirmed by infrared spectroscopic analysis. The maximum peak temperature from DSC were at 106.05°C, 114.20°C, and 128.86°C for benzoyl peroxide initiated VERs viz. samples V₁C_V, V₂C_V, and V₃C_V, respectively, increased with the increase of EEW of the parent epoxy resin. It has also been found that the films of VER having highest EEW of bisphenol‐A epoxy resin showed best chemical resistance amongst all other VERs in this study. The mechanical properties such as hardness and flexibility also showed a similar trend. The thermal stability was found to decrease with the increase of EEW of bisphenol‐A epoxy resin in the VERs. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010