Chemical modification of dicyclopentadiene-based epoxy resins to improve compatibility and thermal properties

Abstract

A. series of siloxane-containing epoxy resins was obtained by curing dicyclopentadiene-containing epoxy DG with the silicon-containing curing agents TS, DS, and AS. Curing behavior was studied using DSC, and the activation energies of the DG curing reaction with curing agents TA, DS, and AS were found to be 59, 80, and 157 KJ/mol. Meanwhile, the curing reaction of DG with diamines was found to be a first-order reaction using Arrhenius plots. In addition, thermal stability and the weight loss behavior of the cured polymers were studied via TGA. The silicon-containing resins displayed higher weight loss temperatures and higher char yields than the silicon-free resin. The activation energies of degradation ranged from 108 to 206 KJ/mol. The morphology of the cured pieces were investigated using SEM. The DG/TS and DG/DS are more compatible between the epoxy and the curing agents than DG/AS. The limited oxygen index (LOI) values of 31 to 34 for the DG-based resin confirmed the effectiveness of silicon-containing epoxy resins as flame retardants. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.