Effect of structure on thermal behaviour of epoxy resins

The paper deals with the curing behaviour of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol-A (DGEBA) using three novel multifunctional aromatic amines having phosphine oxide and amide-acid linkages. The amines were prepared by reacting tris(3-aminophenyl)phosphine oxide (TA-P) with 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid anhydride (P)/4,4'-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic acid anhydride (F)/3,3',4,4'-benzophenonetetracarboxylic acid dianhydride (B). Amide-acid linkage in these amines is converted to thermally stable imide linkage during curing reaction. Curing temperatures of DGEBA were higher with phosphorylated amines than the conventional amine 4,4'-diamino diphenyl sulphone (D). A decrease in initial decomposition temperature and higher char yields were observed when phosphorus containing amide-acid amines were used as curing agents for DGEBA. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.