The research on syntheses and properties of novel epoxy/polymercaptan curing optical resins with high refractive indices

A novel thioether glycidyl resin bis[3-(2,3-Epoxypropylthio)phenyl]-sulfone (BEPTPhS) with high refractive index was synthesized by condensation of bis(3-mercaptophenyl)sulfone (BMPS) with epichlorohydrin. It's structure was characterized by FTIR, MS and NMR. It was the first time that trimercaptothioethylamine (TMTEA) was used as curing agent to cure epoxy resins. Optical resins possessing high refractive index were prepared by curing diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) with the mixture of TMTEA and ethylendiamine (EDA) and by curing BEPTPhS/DGEBA with TMTEA. The research on the optical properties of resins of DGEBA cured by the mixtures of TMTEA and EDA indicated that these resins possess higher refractive index (nd>1.60), lower dispersity (νd>34), high impact strength (IPS>30 kJ m−2) and higher transmittance. The nd, νd and density of these resins varied linearly with the EDA content in the curing agent mixtures. The optimum ratio of the EDA content to that of TMTEA is 20:80 (molar ratio), at this ratio the cured resin has the optimum optical properties (nd20=1.61, vd=35.4). The cured resins of BEPTPhS/TMTEA have a high refractive index (the highest is nd=1.67). The optical, physical and thermal properties of the cured optical resins of BEPTPhS/TMTEA were discussed in this paper.