Kinetic studies of the effect of ABS on the curing of an epoxy/cycloaliphatic amine resin

Using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), we have studied, under isothermal and dynamic conditions, the kinetics of the cure reaction for an epoxy resin based on the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) modified with different contents of acrylonitrile–butadiene–styrene (ABS) and cured with 1,3‐bisaminomethylcyclohexane (1,3‐BAC). Kinetic analysis were performed using three kinetic models: Kissinger, Flynn–Wall–Ozawa, and the phenomenological model of Kamal as a result of its autocatalytic behavior. Diffusion control is incorporated to describe the cure in the latter stages, predicting the cure kinetics over the whole range of conversion. The total heats of reaction were not influenced by the presence of ABS. The autocatalytic mechanism was observed both in the neat system as well as in its blends. The reaction rates of the blends and the maximum conversions reached did not change too much with the ABS content. Blending ABS within the epoxy resin does not change the reaction mechanism of the epoxy resin formation. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 38: 351–361, 2000     

Miscibility and transesterification in blends of liquid crystalline copolyesters and polyarylate

Blends of poly(oxybenzoate-p-ethylene terephthalate) (POB-PET) and polyarylate were confirmed to be a partially miscible system by differential scanning calorimetry. When 60/40 POB-PET/PAr blend was annealed at high temperature (above 270°C) for several minutes, the ester–ester interchange (transesterification) in the blend took place immediately, as evidenced by Fourier Transformed infrared analyses. The analysis of the blend annealed at 290°C by ¹H-¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance disclosed that there were four new diads appearing in 15 min and an additional one produced in 60 min during the heat treatment. The miscibility between POB-PET and polyarylate increased with the mol concentration of these new diads judging from differential scanning calorimetry. The evolution of the concentration of the diad ethylene glycol-isophthalate during the annealing can be described by a second-order reaction. The activation energy of forming the diad ethylene glycol-isophthalate was 26.5 kcal/mol, and the preexponential factor for the transesterification reaction is 3.7 × 10⁸ min⁻¹. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 36: 1959–1969, 1998     

Blends of a new thermoplastic in a thermoset epoxy matrix

Properties of thermoplastic modified epoxy network have been studied. The particularity of this work is the use of new thermoplastic epoxies whose structure is close to the final matrix. Blends of thermoset epoxy (Diglycidyl Ether of Bisphenol A/4-4′ methylenebis [3-chloro 2,6-diethylaniline]) with a thermoplastic content from 5 to 40%w have been realised. Initial miscibility in the thermoset precursors shows an UCST behaviour with a maximal value near 130°C for a thermoplastic content of 10%. Due to the presence of tertiary amine and pendant hydroxyl groups on the thermoplastic backbone, epoxy amine reactions are faster than for the neat system but the thermoplastic seems not to have reacted with the thermoset network. The final blends are transparent but toughening increase is rather low.