A FUNDAMENTAL APPROACH TO RESIN CURE KINETICS

Thermoset polymer resins are an important class of materials, particularly when used as the matrix for advanced fiber composites. Because material performance is directly related to processing, it is useful to study the cure kinetics of these resins for use in process modeling, design and control. Several workers have attacked this problem using empirical rate laws. However, a fundamental approach can offer more flexibility without being cumbersome or impractical. In this work, amine-catalyzed epoxy reactions are studied. A kinetic model is developed and applied to experimental data from the literature, as well as from our laboratory. We show that this model is able to describe the cure reac tions of “real-world” systems, and unlike the empirical rate laws, can account for variations in the resin formulations. © 1990, Sage Publications. All rights reserved.