Abstract
Radiation curable polymeric 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 in order to develop appropriate process models, a detailed knowledge of the kinetics of epoxy cationic polymerization induced by ultraviolet (UV) or EB irradiation is required. In this work, we present our development of a technique based on real time near infrared (RTIR) spectroscopy for performing in situ kinetic analysis of radiation induced cationic polymerization of epoxy systems. To our knowledge this is the first time such data have been collected and presented for high-energy EB (10 MeV) induced polymerization. A demonstration of the technique for deterministic evaluation of degree of cure is shown using model glycidyl ether (phenyl glycidyl ether and diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A) resins and isothermal curing conditions. The impact of initiation rate on polymerizations with UV and EB for the cationic initiator is directly evident by comparative analysis. The sensitivity of the RTIR method and ability to produce quantitative data evidence of reaction mechanisms is demonstrated. The type of data presented in this work forms the basis for cure models being developed.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 353-357 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms |
| Volume | 208 |
| Issue number | 1-4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2003 |
| Externally published | Yes |
| Event | Ionizing Radiation and Polymers - Sainte-Adele, QUE, Canada Duration: Sep 21 2002 → Sep 26 2002 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Nuclear and High Energy Physics
- Instrumentation