Rubber modified epoxy resin. II: Phase separation behavior

Abstract

DGEBA (diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A)-ATBN (amine terminated butadiene acrylonitrile copolymer) blends exhibited upper critical solution temperature (UCST) behavior. Triethylene tetramine (TETA) was introduced as an amine curing agent of epoxy. The real-time phase separation behavior of ATBN-added epoxy system during cure was investigated using laser light scattering. SEM (scanning electron microscopy) and optical microscopy were also employed to observe the morphology of the epoxy blends. Since the DGEBA-ATBN blends showed UCST behavior, the degree of phase separation when cured at low temperature was higher than that when cured at high temperature. The domain correlation length increased as the curing temperature was lowered. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) results indicated that the phase inversion occurred above 20 wt% of ATBN composition.