Yves Camberlin

Epoxy– diamine thermoset/thermoplastic blends: thermoset reactions and rheological evolutions during curing

Isothermal rates of reaction during the cure of epoxy-amine/thermoplastic blends were studied. Epoxy-amine reaction induces a phase separation. Experimental results show that when TP concentration is higher than 30 wt% an increase of reaction rate is observed after phase separation. A modelling of the kinetics of each phase before and after phase separation, shows that in the epoxy-amine rich phase, gelation occurs for a conversion close to 0.6. Rheological behaviour was studied during the cure. The viscosity was found greatly dependent of the morphology, the epoxy amine conversion and of the evolution of the phase composition. Modelling of the viscosity using simple relations gives a good fit of the experimental results during the cure.