Cure Kinetics Modeling and Thermomechanical Properties of Cycloaliphatic Epoxy-Anhydride Thermosets Modified With Hyperstar Polymers

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Alberto Belmonte - , UPC Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Barcelona Tech) (Author)
  • Frank Daebritz - , Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)
  • Xavier Ramis - , UPC Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Barcelona Tech) (Author)
  • Angels Serra - , Universidad Rovira i Virgili (Author)
  • Brigitte Voit - , Chair of Organic Chemistry of Polymers, Leibniz Institute of Polymer Research Dresden (Author)
  • Xavier Fernandez-Francos - , Universidad Rovira i Virgili (Author)

Abstract

Hyperstar polymers (HSPs) with hyperbranched aromatic polyester core and arms consisting of block copolymers of poly(methyl methacrylate) and poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) have been used as polymeric modifiers in cycloaliphatic epoxy-anhydride formulations catalyzed with tertiary amines, with the purpose of enhancing the impact strength of the resulting materials without compromising other thermal and mechanical properties.> In this work, the effect of these polymeric modifiers on the curing kinetics, processing, thermal-mechanical properties and thermal stability has been studied using thermal analysis techniques such as DSC, TMA, DMA, and TGA. The morphology of the cured materials has been analyzed with SEM. The curing kinetics has been analyzed by isoconversional procedures and phenomenological kinetic models taking into account the vitrification during curing, and the degradation kinetics has been analyzed by means of isoconversional procedures, summarizing the results in a time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagram. The results show that HSPs participate in the crosslinking process due to the presence of reactive groups, without compromising significantly their thermal-mechanical properties. The modified materials show a potential toughness enhancement produced by the formation of a nano-grained morphology. The TTT diagram is shown to be a useful tool for the optimization of the curing schedule in terms of curing completion and safe processing window, as well as for defining storage stability conditions. (C) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Details

Original languageGerman
Pages (from-to)1227-1242
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of Polymer Science, Part B: Polymer Physics
Volume52
Issue number18
Publication statusPublished - 15 Sept 2014
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

Scopus 84905741432
ORCID /0000-0002-4531-691X/work/148607929

Keywords

Keywords

  • Ttt, Anhydrides, Epoxy, Hyperstar polymers, Kinetics, Ring-opening polymerization