Influence of textile preforming binder on the thermal and rheological properties of the catalyzed cyclic butylene terephthalate oligomers

The influence of an epoxy resin textile preforming binder on the thermal and rheological properties of the catalyzed Cyclic Butylene Terephthalate (CBT) oligomers was studied for the manufacturing of textile reinforced pCBT composites with bindered textile preforms. Thermal and rheological investigations were conducted with Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and plate-plate rheometry, respectively. Significant influences on both non-isothermal und isothermal crystallization of in situ polymerized Cyclic Butylene Terephthalate (pCBT) were observed due to the presence of preforming binder. The crystallization temperature and the crystallinity of pCBT polymer during cooling are both found to decrease with increasing filling fraction of preforming binder. The isothermal polymerization and crystallization process was confirmed to be influenced in the aspect of the starting time of crystallization, the crystallization rate and the crystal structures due to the addition of preforming binder. Furthermore, the processing time was found to be prolonged by adding the preforming binder.