The transport of water in a tetrafunctional epoxy resin by near-infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy

An epoxy resin formulation composed of tetraglycidyl-4,4'-diamino diphenylmethane (TGDDM) and 4,4'diamino diphenyl sulfone (DDS) was investigated by Fourier transform near infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy and dynamic-mechanical analysis. Both techniques have demonstrated the essentially complete cure state of the resin with the adopted curing schedule. A novel feature of this work is the possibility of monitoring the transport of water into the resin by using of an FT-MIR spectrometer as a detector in place of the currently employed gravimetric detectors. The data gathered at different temperatures have revealed a good agreement with conventional gravimetric measurements, which verifies the reliability and accuracy of the experimental approach presented herein. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.