UV-curable epoxy systems containing hyperbranched polymers: Kinetics investigation by photo-DSC and real-time FT-IR experiments

The effect of the presence of a hyperbranched OH-functionalized polymer (HBP) on the kinetics of cationic photopolymerization of an epoxy system was investigated employing two complementary techniques, photo-DSC and real-time FT-IR spectroscopy.Lower rates of cross-linking reactions and higher conversion degrees were obtained in photo-DSC experiments with respect to real-time FT-IR spectroscopy. A limited amount (10% wt) of HBP influenced to a certain extent the cure kinetics of the epoxy resin followed by RT-IR; a final conversion of epoxy groups equal to 100% was achieved by increasing the content up to 20% wt The addition of 10% wt of HBP leaves the cure kinetics of the CE resin studied by p-DSC almost unchanged. By increasing the HBP content, a slightly lower reaction rate is observed at lower reaction times. The presence of the HBP produced a continuous decrease of the T_g of the UV-cured epoxy resin but only modest reductions in its thermo-oxidative stability.