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Moisture effects during cure of high‐performance epoxy matrices
Author(s) -
Stark E. B.,
Ibrahim A. M.,
Munns T. E.,
Seferis J. C.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of applied polymer science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.575
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-4628
pISSN - 0021-8995
DOI - 10.1002/app.1985.070300436
Subject(s) - differential scanning calorimetry , epoxy , relative humidity , materials science , moisture , water vapor , glass transition , composite material , humidity , epoxide , chemical engineering , polymer chemistry , polymer , organic chemistry , chemistry , catalysis , thermodynamics , physics , engineering
The effects of absorbed moisture on the cure reactions and subsequent solid‐state properties of a high‐performance epoxy system were investigated in this study. The resin systems investigated were a model system, TGDDM–Novalac–DDS–BF 3 :MEA (TNDB), and its commercial analog, Hercules 3501–6. The samples were exposed to three environments: a liquid water environment at 50°C; an 85% relative humidity vapor environment at 50°C; and an evacuated, desiccated atmosphere at 22°C. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) thermograms were obtained for the Hercules 3501‐6 formulation as well as various compositions of the TNDB system for samples exposed to each of the three environments. Moisture was found to accelerate the cure especially for formulations exposed to the vapor environment. Dynamic mechanical experiments were also performed on cured, thin film samples. The “wet” samples were produced by adding water to the resin mixture prior to B‐staging. The moisture was shown to increase the extent of reaction, but produce a slightly lower degree of crosslinking as related to the sample's glass transition. This has been attributed to chain‐extension reactions, such as the hydroxyl–epoxide etherification reaction, which are favored in the presence of hydroxyl groups from water.