Effects of nano-sized carborundum particles and amino silane coupling agent on the cure reaction kinetics of DGEBA/EMI-2,4 system

The influence of nano-sized carborundum (nano-SiC) particles and amino silane coupling agent on the curing kinetics of bisphenol-A glycidol ether epoxy resin (DGEBA) initiated with 2-ethyl-4-methylimidazole (EMI-2,4) was studied by means of non-isothermal differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Besides decreasing the heat of reaction ΔH, the presence of nano-SiC particles results in delayed cure reactions, which is also manifested by the increased values of exothermic peak temperature Tp and cure reaction activation energy E of the filled systems. Meanwhile, the amino silane coupling agent could increase ΔH, and decrease slightly the degree of delayed cure reactions caused by nano-SiC particles, and thereby decreasing Tp of the filled systems. The presence of nano-SiC particles prevents from the occurrence of vitrification, so does the amino silane coupling agent when the nano-SiC particle content is low (≲15 wt%). As the nano-SiC particle content is high (≳15 wt%), the presence of amino silane coupling agent promotes the occurrence of vitrification. Besides E, the presence of nano-SiC particles could increase the overall order of reaction m+n and the frequency factor A, meanwhile, the amino silane coupling agent decreases these three parameters.