Preliminary investigation of a second thermoplastic modifier incorporation effect on the phase behavior and morphology of epoxy/PEI curing systems

• Published in: Journal of materials science letters Vol. 21; no. 7; pp. 585 - 587
• Main Authors: Zheng, Q, Tan, K, Lin, Z, Pan, Y
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Kluwer Academic Publishers 01.04.2002
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Chemical properties; Exact sciences and technology; Polymer industry, paints, wood; Properties and testing; Technology of polymers; Diamine; Thermoplastics; Curing(plastics); Morphology; Epoxy resin; Dispersion reinforced material; Kinetics; Experimental study; Polycarbonate; Etherimide polymer; Structure composition relationship; Modified material
• ISSN: 0261-8028
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1015477525643

There are two ways to improve the interfacial adhesion between the dispersed thermoplastics phase and the cured epoxy resin. The first is to chemically modify or functionalize the thermoplastics modifier. The second is to introduce mutual interaction, such as dipole-dipole interaction, hydrogen-bonding etc., into the curing system to improve the compatibility. Recent studies have shown that the interfacial adhesion between thermosets and thermoplastics can be dramatically improved when interdiffusion is possible. Here, we prefer the second way since the development of functional polymers is still limited to the laboratory and it is a high cost process. This paper reports the incorporation effect of a second thermoplastics modifier (PC), on the phase separation behavior and morphology of PEI modified E-51 curing systems by using small angle laser light scattering (SALLS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM, Hitachi S-570).