Effect of annealing on phase separation and mechanical properties of epoxy/ATBN adhesive

Amine-terminated butadiene acrylonitrile (ATBN) was applied as curing agents for diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A epoxy resin without any accelerating agent. ATBN weight percentage of 59–82 wt% was used, so that the soft ATBN domains in the cured samples formed a continuous phase, while the hard epoxy domains formed a discontinuous phase. Mechanical properties were tested in the means of strain-stress and adhesive strength. The results showed that the samples had excellent toughness at temperatures above the flexible segment glass transition temperature (Tg1), and it was well maintained after annealing at 150 °C. However, adhesive strength of the annealed sample decreased dramatically when the testing temperature was close to the rigid segment glass transition temperature (Tg2). It was observed that (Tg2) decreased and phase separation became weaker after the annealing. Real-time Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) measurement indicated that this phenomenon was related to the disassociation of hydrogen bonding within the hard domain caused by the increased mixing of the hard segments into the soft domains by the high temperature annealing. It was confirmed by transmission electronic microscope (TEM) test.