Cure kinetics of diglycidylether of bisphenol A-ethylenediamine revisited using a mechanistic model

The polymerization kinetics of the reaction between diglycidylether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) and ethylenediamine (EDA) was analyzed, using dynamic scanning calorimetry, in both isothermal and programmed heating-rate modes. A simple mechanistic model, consisting of an equilibrium reaction generating an epoxy-hydroxyl complex, and including two possible mechanisms for the consumption of amine hydrogens [(1) with free epoxy groups, (2) with the epoxy-hydroxyl complex], provided a reasonable fitting of the whole set of experimental results. It was found that the equilibrium constant decreased with temperature, making less important the reaction mechanism involving the epoxy-hydroxyl complex. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.