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Investigation of Epoxide Curing Reactions by Differential Scanning Calorimetry – Formal Kinetic Evaluation
Author(s) -
Flammersheim HansJürgen,
Opfermann Johannes R.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
macromolecular materials and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.913
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1439-2054
pISSN - 1438-7492
DOI - 10.1002/1439-2054(20010301)286:3<143::aid-mame143>3.0.co;2-z
Subject(s) - isothermal process , differential scanning calorimetry , materials science , kinetic energy , curing (chemistry) , thermodynamics , epoxide , composite material , chemistry , organic chemistry , catalysis , physics , quantum mechanics
A differential scanning calorimeter measures the heat flow rates between sample and device as function of time and temperature. The increasing power of both computerisation and evaluation software enables the fast and reliable kinetic evaluation of a reacting system. This is the basis for valid predictions of the reaction behaviour even for very complicated time/temperature conditions, including systems with partial diffusion control. Both non‐isothermal and isothermal reaction modes are possible in DSC and have particular advantages and disadvantages. In each case, the simultaneous kinetic evaluation of non‐isothermal and isothermal measurements is not only possible but absolutely necessary to avoid wrong conclusions. Considering the objectives of a practitioner, the kinetic analysis is sufficiently simple, relatively fast, flexible enough and particularly valuable for versatile predictions, when using a formal kinetic model. This is shown for three examples of epoxide curing. Of course, the formal kinetic model is never the one‐to‐one reflection of the true reaction mechanism.