Isothermal differential scanning calorimetry study of a glass/epoxy prepreg

Isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to study the curing behavior of epoxy prepreg Hexply®1454 system, based on diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DEGBA)/dicyandiamid (DICY) reinforced by glass fiber. Cure kinetics of an autocatalytic‐type reaction were analyzed by general form of conversion‐dependent function. The characteristic feature of conversion‐dependent function was determined using a reduced‐plot method where the temperature‐dependent reaction rate constant was analytically separated from the isothermal data. An autocatalytic kinetic model was used; it can predict the overall kinetic behavior in the whole studied cure temperature range (115–130°C). The activation energy and pre‐exponential factor were determined as: E = 94.8 kJ/mol and A = 1.75 × 10¹⁰ sec^?1 and reaction order as 2.11 (m + n = 0.65 + 1.46 = 2.11). A kinetic model based on these values was developed by which the prediction is in good agreement with experimental values. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.