Reactive Blends of Epoxy Resin (DGEBA) Crosslinked by Anionically Polymerized Polycaprolactam: Process of Epoxy Cure and Kinetics of Decomposition

The curing reactions, kinetics, morphology, and thermal stability of the reactive blends of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) and polycaprolactam were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis. DSC studies showed that the heat of reaction (ΔH) increased when the DGEBA content was increased from 50 to 80 wt % and increased drastically above 70 wt % DGEBA content because of an increase in the extent of crosslinking. The activation energy and pre-exponential factor of cure reactions increased drastically with an increase in the DGEBA content above 70 wt % because of a drastic increase in crosslink density. The extent of curing reaction of polycap-rolactam with DGEBA is dependent on the blend composition. The nucleophilic attack on oxirane ring by amide nitrogen of polycaprolactam is a dominant curing reaction in low DGEBA compositions, and another type of curing reaction with relatively large activation energy and pre-exponential factor also occurred, which becomes dominant when the DGEBA content reaches above 70 wt %. FTIR studies also revealed that two types of reactions do exist during the curing of polycaprolactam with DGEBA. It was observed during SEM studies that the reactive blends show multiphase system and on increasing the DGEBA content from 50 to 80 wt %, the mixing of the two phases increased. The reactive blend Ep80Ca20 with 80 wt % DGEBA content exhibits a single-phase system because of better mixing of the two phases. The results of thermogravimetric analysis also indicate that the initial degradation temperature (Ti), activation energy (E), and pre-exponential factor (Z) increased with increasing DGEBA content from 50 to 80 wt % in the reactive blends and increased drastically above 70 wt % DGEBA content due to the higher crosslink density. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.