Vitrification and devitrification during the non-isothermal cure of a thermoset

The processes of vitrification and devitrification that occur in an epoxy resin when it cures non-isothermally with a hardener are studied in terms of their frequency dependence and as a function of the heating rate. A novel modulated DSC technique, TOPEM, has been used which permits the evaluation of the frequency dependence for a single sample in a scan at constant underlying heating rate, thus avoiding errors arising from the composition of the sample. The effects of both frequency and heating rate on vitrification and devitrification are investigated. Some advantages of this technique are observed and discussed.