A study of UV-curable epoxide resins containing thermal accelerator - Tertiary amines

The individuals of tertiary amines, including imidazole (1-amine), 1,2-dimethylimidazole (2-amine), 2,4,6-tris(dimethylamino-methyl)phenol (3-amine), 1-methylimidazole (4-amine), and 2-methylimidazole (5-amine), were added into UV-curable epoxide resins, respectively, and the effects on UV/thermal conversions, thermal properties and adhesion strengths for various types of substrates were investigated. According to the experimental results, the extent of effects of amines on physical properties was found in the order of: 3-amine > 4-amine > 1-amine > 2-amine > 5-amine. The resin with 3-amine exhibited the highest glass transition temperature (Tg = 72.3 °C) value and the lowest coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE = 70.8 ppm/°C), which also exhibited the highest adhesion strengths on various substrates, on glass (greater than 199 kg/cm2), ITO (greater than 182 kg/cm2), PET (115 kg/cm2), and stainless steel (232 kg/cm2), and possesses great potentials for advanced opto-electronic applications.