Abstract
Radiation curable polymeric materials for composites offer a wide range of advantages over traditional thermally cured systems, including, low energy consumption and reduced manufacturing costs. However, such materials suffer from relatively poor mechanical properties. Moreover, the curing behavior of such systems (i.e. the exact relationship between chemical kinetics and key processing variables) is not fully understood. In order to design improved epoxy based electron beam (EB) curable systems, and to develop appropriate process models, a detailed knowledge of the kinetics of epoxy cationic polymerization induced by UV or EB irradiation is required. In this work, we investigate the influence of water on the polymerization of glycidyl ethers. This investigation is based on our development of a near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy technique for performing real-time in-situ kinetic analysis of radiation induced cationic polymerization of epoxy systems including phenyl glycidyl ether (PGE) and diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA). NIR spectroscopy was used to quantify the water concentration of the initial reacting mixture, and to monitor water and epoxy concentration throughout the polymerization. The results indicate that the presence of water in such systems significantly influences the processing behavior as well as final structure of the polymer.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2359-2369 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | International SAMPE Symposium and Exhibition (Proceedings) |
| Volume | 48 II |
| State | Published - 2003 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | Advancing Materials in the Global Economy - Applications, Emerging Markets and Evolving Technologies - Long Beach, CA, United States Duration: May 11 2003 → May 15 2003 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- General Materials Science
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering