Modification of epoxy resin using reactive liquid (ATBN) rubber

Epoxy resins are widely utilised as high performance thermosetting resins for many industrial applications but unfortunately some are characterised by a relatively low toughness. In this respect, many efforts have been made to improve the toughness of cured epoxy resins by the introduction of rigid particles, reactive rubbers, interpenetrating polymer networks and engineering thermoplastics within the matrix.In the present work liquid amine-terminated butadiene acrylonitrile (ATBN) copolymers containing 16% acrylonitrile is added at different contents to improve the toughness of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A epoxy resin using polyaminoimidazoline as a curing agent. The chemical reactions suspected to take place during the modification of the epoxy resin were monitored and evidenced using a Fourier transform infrared. The glass transition temperature (T_g) was measured using a differential scanning calorimeter. The mechanical behaviour of the modified epoxy resin was evaluated in terms of Izod impact strength (IS), critical stress intensity factor, and tensile properties at different modifier contents. A scanning electron microscope (SEM) was used to elucidate the mechanisms of deformation and toughening in addition to other morphological features. Finally, the adhesive properties of the modified epoxy resin were measured in terms of tensile shear strength (TSS).When modifying epoxy resin with liquid rubber (ATBN), all reactivity characteristics (gel time and temperature, cure time and exotherm peak) decreased. The infrared analysis evidenced the occurrence of a chemical reaction between the two components. Addition of ATBN led to a decrease in either the glass transition temperature and stress at break accompanied with an increase in elongation at break and the appearance of some yielding. As expected, the tensile modulus decreased slightly from 1.85 to about 1.34 GPa with increasing ATBN content; whereas a 3-fold increase in Izod IS was obtained by just adding 12.5 phr ATBN compared to the unfilled resin. It is obvious that upon addition of ATBN, the Izod IS increased drastically from 0.85 to 2.86 kJ/m² and from 4.19 to 14.26 kJ/m² for notched and unnotched specimens respectively while K_IC varies from 0.91 to 1.49 MPa m^1/2 (1.5-fold increase). Concerning the adhesive properties, the TSS increased from 9.14 to 15.96 MPa just by adding 5 phr ATBN. Finally SEM analysis results suggest rubber particles cavitation and localised plastic shear yielding induced by the presence of the dispersed rubber particles within the epoxy matrix as the prevailing toughening mechanism.