Study on the reaction kinetics between PBT and epoxy by a novel rheological method

In the present study, the reaction kinetics of polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) and epoxy system was studied by a novel rheological method. The reaction process was determined by rheological test and the results showed that there were three stages in the reaction between PBT and epoxy, which were reaction-controlling stage (stage I), reaction-stagnation stage (stage II) and diffusion-controlling stage (stage III). In addition, the stage I was selected to study the reaction kinetics by the rheological method. The results showed that the reaction between PBT and epoxy could be classified as a pseudo-first-order reaction due to the excessive amount of epoxy group. Furthermore, the reaction apparent activation energy of the stage I determined by the rheological method was 143 kJ/mol. To confirm these results, the reaction kinetics was also evaluated by the endgroup determination method, and the results showed that the reaction could also be classified as a pseudo-first-order reaction. Moreover, the apparent activation energy of the reaction was 116 kJ/mol, which was similar to that of the value obtained by the rheological method.