Influence of hydroxyl concentration on the cure kinetics of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) epoxy in the presence of a tertiary amine

POSTER

Abstract

DGEBA epoxy is reacted with hardener mixtures of diethanolamine (DEA, HN(CH2CH2OH)2) and dibutylamine (DBA, HN(CH2CH2CH2CH3)2). Both DEA and DBA have a single secondary amine that reacts rapidly with epoxide forming a non-crosslinked adduct at 70°C. The subsequent crosslinking reaction is slower, taking 24 hrs. at 70°C to near completion for the standard DGEBA/DEA mix. The mixtures studied keep the mole ratio of epoxide to amine constant at 4.8:1 and vary the epoxide to hydroxyl ratio from 2.4:1 for a hardener of pure DEA to nearly 1:0 for pure DBA. Proton transfer is expected to play a major role in the reaction at high hydroxyl concentrations (high DEA/DBA ratio). It is also expected that a high OH concentration will result in a high reaction rate while low OH concentration (low DEA/DBA ratio) will result in a negligible reaction rate. We show that these expectations are overly simplistic. At 70°C, the maximum reaction rate occurs at 25% DBA indicating an optimal hydroxyl concentration.

Presenters

  • John McCoy

    Materials Engineering, New Mexico Tech, New Mexico Tech

Authors

  • John McCoy

    Materials Engineering, New Mexico Tech, New Mexico Tech

  • Margaret L. House

    Materials Engineering, New Mexico Tech, New Mexico Tech

  • Eleanor House

    Materials Engineering, New Mexico Tech, New Mexico Tech

  • Stephan Comeau

    Materials Engineering, New Mexico Tech, New Mexico Tech

  • Catherine House

    Materials Engineering, New Mexico Tech, New Mexico Tech

  • Jamie Kropka

    Materials Science, Sandia Natl Labs, Sandia National Laboratories, Sandia National Labs, Sandia Natl Labs