Cure kinetics of epoxy resins studied by non-isothermal DSC data

The curing kinetics of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and diglycidyl ether of hydroquinone (DGEHQ) epoxy resins in presence of diglycidyl aniline as a reactive diluent and triethylenetetramine (TETA) as the curing agent was studied by non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) technique at different heating rates. The kinetic parameters of the curing process were determined by isoconversional method given by Malek for the kinetic analysis of the data obtained by the thermal treatment. A two-parameter (m, n) autocatalytic model (Sestak-Berggren equation) was found to be the most adequate selected to describe the cure kinetics of the studied epoxy resins. Reactive diluent decreases both the activation energy and the cure kinetic parameters. Non-isothermal DSC curves obtained using the experimental data show a good agreement with that theoretically calculated. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.