Cure kinetics and shrinkage model for epoxy-amine systems

Manufacture of most of epoxy resins implies that cure needs to be carried out under pressure. Due to the significance of knowing the influence of the pressure factor in cure kinetics, cure shrinkage of a stoichiometric epoxy-amine system was measured using a pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) analyzer. Recording the specific volume change in the range of temperature from 100 to 180 °C and a pressure of 200 bar we could model the cure kinetics. The Runge-Kutta method was applied to obtain the kinetic constants of the cure reaction. In addition, using the differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) for measurements of 1 bar and the PVT analyzer for pressures of 200, 400, and 600 bar, we also model the kinetic constants as a function of pressure. The results obtained show that the effect of the temperature on the kinetic constants is higher than the effect of pressure. Therefore, both PVT and DSC are complementary techniques to describe the full range of cure kinetic process of epoxy mixtures.