Effects of peroxide-based initiators with different molecular sizes on cure behavior and kinetics of vinyl ester resin containing multi-walled carbon nanotubes

The effects of two peroxide-based initiators, di(4-tert-butylcyclohexyl)peroxydicarbonate (DPDC) and tert-butyl-peroxybenzoate (TBPB), with different molecular sizes and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) on the cure behavior and kinetics of vinyl ester (VE) resin were investigated by using non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry performed with varying the heating rate. The VE resin initiated by DPDC of large molecular size exhibited the exothermic peak temperature lower than that by TBPB of small molecular size. The cure behavior, total heat of reaction, activation energy, and total order of cure reaction of MWCNT-containing VE resin significantly depended not only on the molecular size of peroxide-based initiators, but also the concentration of MWCNT. The results revealed that the cure reaction of pristine VE and MWCNT-containing VE resins was governed by autocatalytic reaction. The MWCNT containing in the VE resin simplified the cure mechanism, reducing the activation energy with TBPB having small molecular size rather than with DPDC having relatively large molecular size.

Automated summary

This study investigated the effects of two peroxide-based initiators and multi-walled carbon nanotubes on the cure behavior and kinetics of vinyl ester resin. The results showed that the molecular size of the initiators and the concentration of MWCNT significantly influenced the curing behavior of the resin, and MWCNT simplified the cure mechanism and reduced the activation energy.