Isothermal curing behavior and thermo-physical properties of epoxy-based thermoset nanocomposites reinforced with Fe2O3 nanoparticles

A new nanocomposite was synthesized by curing of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA)/polypropylenimine octaamine dendrimer (PPOD) involving various percentages of Fe2O3 nanoparticles using ultrasonic dispersion protocol. DSC and DMTA studies revealed that high percentage of the nanofiller, i.e., 10%, results in improved cross-link density as evidenced by increasing in the glass transition temperature. Morphology studies using AFM and TEM showed that the nanoparticles were homogeneously dispersed into the entire volume of the resin. From the experimental data, the nanocomposite exhibited increase in storage modulus and degradation temperature from the neat epoxy system. The isoconversional method was utilized to describe the isothermal curing reaction of epoxy nanocomposite. Kinetics of DGEBA/PPOD/nano-Fe2O3 cure was studied by DSC measurements at isothermal mode. Isothermal kinetic parameters, including k1, k2 and n, were determined and it was shown that the reaction kinetics could be described well by the Horie model.